Harry Potter belongs to Hermione Granger; the rest of the world belongs to J.K. Rowling. English is not my native language.
Harry was almost imposingly stepping along the empty and dimly lit corridor of the night Hogwarts under the invisibility cloak. His head was mostly empty, and he enjoyed looking at the dimly lit dormant portraits on the walls. In the daytime, it was not possible to examine them properly - the portraits of quite a decent-looking dead behaved indecently actively, rarely being in the frame they were supposed to, often gathering in lively eccentric groups consisting of characters depicted in various styles. Sometimes - ridiculously different: a wealthy Venetian merchant, depicted clearly by one of the best artists of the era, arguing with a burned magician, depicted in an early medieval icon-painting style - this was not a sight for the faint-hearted tour guides.
But still, the rest of his head was sometimes disturbed by unwelcome thoughts.
He once again thought about how close and at the same time inaccessible to him was Hermione. The best friend you can only dream of, a smart and very beautiful girl... He seemed to get used to the idea that she would never be his in the second year, but on nights like these, he wanted to howl and climb the walls. But no, as always, he came to a simple conclusion: he had no chance for anything but pity from Hermione. Even if he tries, at best, he will be a compromise option for her. He did not want to be an object of pity or compromise for her - the very thought made him feel miserable.
He had another friend, the situation with which was much lousier than with Hermione - he did not doubt her friendship, he doubted the sincerity of his first friend to some degree or another for a long time. To be exact, from the moment he brought him to the mirror of Erised, and Ron told him without a moment's hesitation told him what he saw. Quidditch team captain and head prefect badge? In itself, his deepest desire would have to guarantee him a ticket to Slytherin, and in the good sense of the word - there is nothing wrong with wanting to achieve commendable results and the recognition of his achievements that come with it ... Only now it was already clear that he doesn't want to achieve all those things. He thought he was entitled to them. After the mirror incident, he looked a little differently at the words Ron had said about Hermione on their first year Halloween. And now, after the former friend had "sort of apologized", Harry couldn't help but feel that he should have listened to his inner voice as to what qualities a true friend should have.
He was distracted from his gloomy thoughts by soft sobs from behind the door of an abandoned classroom. Harry, of course, cautiously made his way into the room.
In the classroom, judging by the hem of her robe, she was a Slytherin and shed tears on a sheet of parchment - apparently, it was a letter. Harry had seen her in common classes with Slytherin, and she left the feeling of a cold and calculating witch, and not a sensitive girl who could kill herself over unrequited love. Something must have happened in the family, Harry thought. He mused that the Slytherin wouldn't be happy about a Gryffindor trying to console her, so he was already turning around to go out and leave the girl alone with the letter when he heard a painfully familiar nasty chuckle. Harry remained in the audience. Malfoy entered the room slowly, as always with tame monkeys.
"Daphne, my betrothed, can't hold back tears of joy?"
"Back off, Malfoy! If you get me, it will be in a wooden box six feet deep in the ground."
"My stupid future wife…" There was a triumph in his voice. "Your father will be so disappointed. He thinks he sold you for a good profit."
"Then let him put on a dress and choose a cake since he likes the death eater spawn so much. Fumble in your own mud, pigs."
Malfoy's face twisted for a moment in barely contained rage, but he pulled himself together, finding in himself worse things than just violence.
"Dear Daphne, this is a magical contract, and only I or my father can break it. You can either obey it or lose your magic."
"That's all? I can get rid of you just by becoming a Muggle? What a blessing!"
"Oh, you think I'll go easier on you when you become a Muggle?" The smirk on his face was utterly disgusting "However, nothing is stopping me now. You are all mine, head to toe. The contract allows me to "try you out" and you know it."
He moved towards the girl.
"Crabbe, Goyle, out the door!" He turned to her "Undress. I want to see the goods."
Daphne reached into her robe pocket.
"Are you looking for this?" He twisted her wand in his fingers "Take off your clothes, you little whore."
Harry barely waited until two kingpins went out the door - his was almost seeing red. Cold-blooded Slytherin or not, this shouldn't happen to any girl. He quietly cast a silencing and sealing charm from under his robes onto the door.
"Stupefy. Expeliarmus. Accio wands. Incarcero" He threw off his robes "Hey, Malfoy, girls don't like you without bribes or threats from your daddy? Squalor. Don't answer, I know you can't."
He approached Daphne, who was huddled in a corner and gave her the wand, which she accepted with trembling hands and sank to the floor exhausted. Tears were still streaming down her face. She whimpered.
"Everything will be fine, no one will touch you" Harry smiled reassuringly at her as best as he could, but did not dare to touch her - he did not know how the girl who was just about to be raped by a classmate would take it. "Everything will end in a moment."
He turned to the motionless body on the floor.
"I heard, Malfoy, that you can break the contract? How very lucky you are... It's the only thing you can do to end your suffering. You death eater brats love the tortures, don't you? In the meantime... Finite. You see, beating a paralyzed person is not that interesting, because half the pain that he should feel is a spasm of his muscles at the point of impact.
He walked over and kicked him in the stomach. Malfoy doubled over and howled.
"Look, I recently learned basic medical stuff. Well, not much, just some spells to get dislocations corrected, small fractures treated, bruises covered up, blood loss stopped... I'll give you a tiny little demonstration."
He broke his nose, fingers, wrists, nose again, teeth, nose again, fingers again, one at a time, in several places each...
"Malfoy, you're not impressive at all. Do you give up right away? You're some wrong kind of death eater - I thought they should be made of tougher stuff." Harry raked his hair at the top into a fist and lifted his face smeared with snot, sweat, blood, and tears closer to his own. "Daddy dearest would be disappointed with you. I didn't even get to the Cruciatus, Malfoy." He made a pause. "Okay, let's terminate the contract - I see you don't like its conditions at all. And yes, don't forget your unbreakable vow to get lost from the sight of Miss Greengrass forever."
"I'll get you, Potter!"
"Really? Did you notice that I didn't include myself in the vow? Guess why? Okay, don't guess. Because you are nothing. And only Azkaban will save your daddy from me. I will kill him if he does not hide there before I meet him without witnesses. Now stop dawdling, I'm already tired of it. Here's your wand, and do as you're told."
After two minutes, Harry pointed his wand at Malfoy.
"Obliviate. Confundus. Take the monkeys and get lost."
As Malfoy walked out the door, Harry exhaled and slid down the wall next to Daphne. He was exhausted, his hands were trembling noticeably.
"That's all. He will not be able to touch you or your friends and loved ones. And his dad, too, if he still needs a son. Come on, I'll take you to the dorms." He picked up the robe from a corner of the office and held out a hand to help her up from the floor.
Daphne was silent. She didn't say a word, but her usually impassive face reflected the intense work of thought.
"Potter..." She shook her head. "Thank you, Harry. I'll find you tomorrow." She kissed his cheek, holding her lips there for a second longer than a simple goodbye kiss required. Having named the password, she went into the Slytherin common room.
Harry touched his cheek with fingertips, smiled weakly, put on his robes, and walked to his tower.
"Hello, Granger." Daphne smiled at her amiably "I would like to talk to you, separately from our study group."
"All right, Greengrass. After class at the library?"
"Yes, that'll do."
Hermione was surprised, to say the least. The ice princess of Slytherin seemed to have thawed out? And to whom, to her, a Muggle-born? She hardly waited for the right moment to quietly retreat to a secluded part of the library after Daphne.
"May I call you Hermione?"
"Yes, please, I don't mind." Daphne was casting the standard cascade of privacy charms - "Just tell me what's wrong with you, because you scare me a little."
"Good." The air seemed to be let out of Daphne, and she sat down on the soft library bench next to Hermione. "That's exactly what I wanted to talk about. You do know that a pureblood society is stuck in the 18th century, right?"
"Of course I know, but it's strange to hear that from a Slytherin, especially one with your bloodline."
"Come on, I understand very well that all these half-cooked noblemen mostly degenerate and the sad result of incestual marriages. I'm not talking about that. Where to start..." Daphne nervously went through the folds on the skirt of the mantle "Among the influential pureblood families, there is a tradition of marrying children by agreement between families. Marriage contracts are not just pieces of paper - something similar ties Harry to the Goblet of Fire, forcing him to risk his head in that silly competition. It's the same with a marriage contract - if your parents or guardian entered you into one, you don't have much of a choice. At the very least, you'll lose your magic in case you try and go against the contract."
"This is barbarism!" Hermione ignited almost immediately
"Hermione..."
"Sorry. Please continue."
"Father.. father sold me to Malfoy. Got me into a contract."
"How can I help you?" Hermione turned sharply to her and put her hands on the girl's thin shoulders, not even thinking that they were not close enough to do this, just wanting to somehow alleviate the girl's suffering. Daphne gave her an unusually warm, if slightly sad, smile.
"It's all right, Hermione, the contract has already been broken and cannot be restored. But thank you for your offer of help, I appreciate it, and now I'm sure that I made the right decision" she slightly pulled away from Hermione, smiling at her "This is what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, the contract was broken by Harry."
"How?" Hermione thought a whole bunch of thoughts, partly panicked. "How did he even get involved in this? You... with him... Well..."
"Honestly, I don't even get it myself." Daphne hurried to end her agony. "I… I was crying in class, over my father's letter, which had a copy of the contract attached to it. And then Malfoy tumbles in with tame monkeys, starts to scoff. He did not like my answers, so he sent his monkeys out the door and told me to undress."
Hermione was scared for the girl at first, but then her mind quickly put two and two together.
"And then Harry appears," Hermione snorted, smiling, "jumping on his back and shoving his wand up his nose?
"That troll story?"
"Yep. A troll appeared in the room, followed almost immediately by Harry, armed only with insane courage and semi-random magic that blew the monster's brain."
"Hmm... In my case, he sealed the door and began to break and repair Malfoy's nose over and over again, until he broke off the engagement and made an immutable vow never to go after me or my relatives and friends ever again."
"He tortured Malfoy?"
"I wouldn't say it was torture. More like an educational beating. Honestly, Malfoy is such a wimp that he didn't even last five minutes."
"Oh, Harry..."
"Then he used Obliviate and Confundus so that the prick would talk less, walked me to the living room, said goodbye, and went into the sunset."
Something fell inside Hermione. That's it. Harry escorts the most beautiful girl on the course to the dorms after lights out. And she obviously likes him. At least.
"Well, the story is quite ordinary for Harry, but I don't understand what do I have to do with it?"
"Umm… wait a little longer. You know that every girl out there is looking at Harry with varying levels of interest, and many of them have been since the first year?"
"Well, obviously..."
"At first I thought they were all fools - he was thin, short, although his eyes were... you know. That, and from my early childhood, I knew how I would be married off, so I generally forbade myself to pay attention to the boys, so that later it would not hurt more" Hermione looked at her sympathetically "That was until that story happened with you and the troll, and a few lesser episodes... I couldn't resist. At first, I began to fantasize about him, then... By the second year, when this whole story with the "Heir of Slytherin" began, I wanted more than anything in the world to give up my safety and reputation, go up to him, tell him that this is all nonsense and I don't believe that a person whose mother and the closest friend are Muggle-borns can exterminate Muggle-borns." - she sighed "And then I carefully looked at the place that you occupy in his life and my fantasies ceased to be fantasies and became a desire. I wanted to renounce my father, leave the family, break everything that connects me with the world of purebred peacocks and chicks and devote myself to helping him and protecting him, as you do."
"I do not..."
"Hermione, don't insult my intelligence." I am very attentive, and I can see it clearer from the outside position." she took a breath "You put your life on this, and this has already gone far beyond any possible friendship. You will die for each other without hesitation, but at the same time, you do not seem to notice how dear you are to each other. Each of you is focused on your task: Harry bludgeons trolls, basilisks, swarms of dementors and dragons, sometimes preventing the Dark Lord from reviving; you make sure he doesn't die in the process, is well informed, and ready to fight in terms of spell arsenal. And you always follow him. To the end. You are an insanely efficient team and I truly admire you. The problem is that neither you nor he can see anything that is happening around you except for your next goal."
"Do you have an example of what we are missing?"
"Nothing at all. Neither the fact that the feeling of love that each of you experiences is mutual, and not unrequited, as it seems to both of you, nor the fact that they are going to give you love potions. And if I correctly calculated the deadlines, then they should start even before the winter holidays, or somewhere on them."
"Who?!"
"Weasley."
"You are lying!"
"Hermione, please. I turned my soul inside out in front of you just to get you to trust me." Daphne was a little annoyed "And when it comes to poisoning and malignancy - please, be a dear, and do listen to a pureblood Slytherin - our breed understands those things so much better than you do. My family... former family - I am no longer Greengrass after everything that happened - owns the largest chain of potion ingredient stores in Britain. We're carefully monitoring the purchase of some of the precursor ingredients for potions that could have a big impact on the political landscape. Molly Weasley, of course, tried to distribute purchases to different stores and spread them in time, but all her cunning plans are not that cunning."
"Are you... Are you sure?" Why is it me and Harry? I understand that Ginny is overly into him, but what do I have to do with it?"
"Yes, I am sure. And the reason for poisoning you along with Harry is simple: it is obvious to everyone except the two of you that you love each other, and if you do not start consuming potions at the same time, then everything can go awry. And by doing so Ronald will get a disenfranchised, but smart Muggle-born, who will drag him all his life on her hump and serve him like a mommy. Ginevra would receive a living life-sized doll of the Boy-Who-Lived, fame and quite decent, even colossal by Weasley's standards, inheritance from his parents. By the way, not only a modified Amortentia is being prepared, but also a potion of loyalty and disgust. Besides, I'm almost sure that your friendship with Ronald is also at least partially artificial. How are you still coping with him is above my comprehension, not counting the fact that Molly has been brewing a loyalty potion for several years now. Does the compassionate housewife always send you some edible goodies, at least a couple of times a year?"
Hermione turned pale and sat silently for a while.
"And what do we do now?"
"Calm down, this is easy to deal with. But you don't notice a million other things. You are like blind kittens floundering in a world you don't understand."
"Wait, why are you doing all this? You could wait until Molly gets me out of the picture, then pour the antidote down Harry's throat, and take him for yourself."
"I said that already, Hermione. Please concentrate, I will use short sentences." Daphne sighed tiredly "My goal is not to become "the girlfriend of the famous blah blah blah". My goal is to make Harry happy. This requires you. No girlfriend, even with potions, will become closer to him than you, and most importantly, will not make him happy. That's why I want to take my place next to you."
"So... But you kind of say you love him. What about you then?"
"I do not intend to contest your position as his girlfriend or wife."
"But you do love him?"
"Yes, I do. But I would be content with a position of, let's say, servant." Daphne noticed the shock on Hermione's face and decided to finish her off "Secretary, concubine... But in general, I wanted to become your confidante."
"Concubine?! And what is a confidante anyway?"
"Yes, Hermione, concubine. A servant with an option to bend her over the table and have your way with her. Frankly, after what awaited me before Harry intervened, this is quite enough for me to be happy. And a confidante is, uh, a friend of the wife, whom the wife can trust with anything, including her husband. And yes, including to take care of his... needs. Often this is just a legal mistress, but in your case - I really want to be your friend and you need me. You won't stop when you destroy the Dark Lord, will you? Take your project with the house elves as an example: you will get involved in a political struggle, and there you will need me like air.
"Daphne, what you're suggesting is insane from the point of view of the average Muggle-born or Muggle-raised." Not to mention me - you know Harry was raised by Muggles, right? And you talk so easily about his needs...
"Of course, I know. Hermione, I didn't give up my innocence to Harry in that classroom right away just because I understand your place in his heart and didn't want to ruin everything. I want Harry to be completely, absolutely happy, which means you to be his girlfriend, wife, and mother of his children." She made a pause to let the words sink "Okay, nothing will come of empty chatter anyway. I think we should start with a demonstration. Can you see Krum sitting across the table from us, surrounded by fangirls?"
"To be honest, the girls are getting on my nerves with their hubbub. And what's up with that.."
"Never mind. The important thing is that he's going to invite you to the ball. And now I'm warning you not to agree simply because of suddenness or stupid ideas like no one else will invite you anyway. Moreover, I suggest that you refuse, because Harry will definitely invite you. He just needs a good kick in the right direction, and I will definitely arrange it for him. Of course, he's not supposed to know everything yet, but he needs to be kicked properly" Daphne winked, got up from the bench, and left.
"Harry, can I talk to you?"
"Yes, of course, Daphne. How are you?"
"I'm great. I have never felt so free in my life, and I have you to thank for that, but I'm on a tight schedule right now. Have you already found a date for the ball?"
"I um... I thought..."
"Harry, you are wonderful but too shy for your own good. It's obvious to everyone except Hermione herself that you want to invite her."
Harry shook his head, looking down.
"That obvious? Maybe so, but I don't want to step on the same rake again."
"Rake? What rake?" Daphne sincerely did not understand what was happening here.
Harry looked up at the ceiling and scratched the back of his head, exhaling noisily.
"Look, I've always liked Hermione. I plucked up the courage in the summer after my first year to ask her to be a little more than a friend to me - well, as far as possible at the age of twelve. We met in Diagon Alley before the start of the school year to do school shopping, and I was thinking of seizing the moment when she was alone in the bookstore to talk, but there was Lockhart's new book presentation. She looked at him in a way she would never look at me. And then I noticed the outward resemblance between him and her father - both handsome, tall men, both can be put on the cover of a women's magazine with equal success - so I came to understand Hermione's tastes. Damn it, Hermione even drew hearts in the schedule around the DADA lessons. And here I am, an under-fed shortie with a good chance of dying before the end of the school year? She may even agree to go with me - simply because she is a wonderful friend and a very kind person and will not want to upset me with rejection, but ... It's not funny, and, frankly, it hurts."
Daphne could no longer listen to this drivel.
"Harry!" She shook him by the shoulders "This is utter nonsense! Lockhart is a jerk, and Hermione knows it!"
"Daphne, why are you torturing me? She knows now. What's the difference? The fact that Lockhart lost his memory did not make me look better, did not give me an ability to dance, and did not make me become a better person either."
It took a lot of Daphne to remain calm.
"Harry, I'm not torturing you, I'm working as a guide dog for a blind man, and we are losing precious time here, so we'll deal with that crazy mess in your head later. Now listen: I know for a fact that Hermione wants you to invite her, and if you don't, you'll break her heart. But most importantly, you will curse this day for the rest of your life if you don't do the right thing today. Please, allow yourself to just be happy for at least one evening."
Something about Daphne's words caught him. He stared into her eyes (which made Daphne uncomfortable for a second), and did not find what he was looking for. For some reason, he believed her.
"Good. I... thank you, Daphne. Is she in the library?"
"Yes. Hurry up."
Harry met Hermione as he left the library, slightly out of breath.
"Hermione!"
"Hi Harry."
"Hermione... I hope you haven't found a date for the ball yet? I understand if you'd prefer to go with someone else, but... I would like to go with you."
Hermione stopped and looked at him.
"I'd be happy to, Harry." She smiled, leaned over to him, and kissed him softly on the cheek.
Harry remained to stand, dumbfounded, as Hermione turned and walked briskly towards the Gryffindor common room. He owed Daphne. A lot.