The following morning, Daphne's eyelids were heavy and she couldn't help the yawn that escaped as she sat down for breakfast with her parents. Deciding whether or not to accept Harry's proposal had weighed heavily on her. She'd tossed and turned through most of the night. She tried to lull herself to sleep with reminders that the decision didn't need to be made that very moment. However, her mind refused to be convinced. She thought through the advantages and disadvantages of engaging in a fake relationship. If she allowed herself to wander too long on any point in particular she'd start to slightly catastrophize the 'what if' scenarios.

At one point, when she'd realized their arrangement might mean further intimacy between the two of them, a fresh wave of anxiety hit her and she knew sleep would be all but impossible to achieve. Thankfully, it was the weekend and she would not have to drag herself through a day of work while she felt so fatigued. Around the time that light began to seep through her curtains, she'd decided to go ahead with it. Thanks to her misstep, the entirety of the wizarding world already believed there was something going on between the two of them. While her initial motivation may have been to simply save face with Blaise, the stakes were much higher and Harry's offer was a reasonable way forward for both of them.

After breakfast, she made her way to their small owlery, penning an acceptance note to Harry but requested that they meet soon to discuss the specifics of their faux relationship. His reply came just a few hours later, asking that she meet him at a Muggle location.

Magnolia Road, Little Whinging, Surrey.

When Daphne arrived the next day, she was uncertain if she'd arrived at the correct place. In front of her was a small play park. Frowning, she reached for his letter to check the address again. Having arrived early, she decided to go ahead and wait to see if Harry showed up. She took a few steps towards a bench, before giving in to the nostalgic appeal of the swings.

Her feet still touching the ground, she slowly drew her legs forward and back. The light sway did wonders to calm some of the anxiety she'd been feeling over the last few days. A smile pulled at her lips as she began to appreciate that he chose this as their meeting spot.

Right on the hour, he arrived. Exchanging polite greetings, Harry sat down in the swing next to her, unphased by her seating choice.

"Why did you choose this place?" Daphne couldn't help but ask as her curiosity got the better of her.

"I grew up in Little Whinging. My aunt and uncle's house is not far from here. It wasn't always...pleasant there, so I used to go on frequent walks here when I wanted to get out of the house."

Daphne could hear hesitancy in Harry's voice as he chose his words. She'd heard whispers about his upbringing but those rumors could be inconsistent, as well as contradictory, so it was always hard to know what information was real and what wasn't. However, she could imagine with him being in the constant eye of the magical world that he might still need opportunities to escape. "Do you still visit here on occasion then?"

Harry shook his head. "Oh, no. I haven't been here in years. I chose it because I figured we'd have privacy."

Daphne nodded. She dropped her hands from the chains to smooth out non-existent wrinkles in her skirt. With a flash of a small smile, she looked over at him. "My parents were very taken with you last night."

Harry grinned wide. "I liked them. I wasn't expecting them to be so welcoming."

"Well, they absolutely believed all of it. Perhaps it's because you're the Boy Who Lived. What girl's family wouldn't want you showing up saying that you're dating their daughter?" Daphne replied, her light teasing surprising herself.

Harry laughed looking towards his feet, grasping his pant legs. "I can think of several actually."

Daphne could tell that despite the fact she knew he was serious, his response was meant to be taken lightly. She relaxed as she felt a tension release in her body. It was a relief that they could be comfortable with each other. "I think the vast majority would have reacted the same way that my parents did. As you probably also caught, they're also overjoyed that I've started someone else," Daphne paused a moment before continuing, "Did everyone believe it on your end? Your friends?"

"I had an influx of letters: Hermione, Ron, and Ron's mum, Molly Weasley. They were all shocked, but only Hermione was doubtful at first. Ron assumed I kept it from him because of Ginny. Hermione didn't believe I would have hid something like that from her. They both were hopeful things would work out with me and Ginny. I wrote them back after your letter and told them that it was true. Mrs. Weasley was similar but she was more receptive and accepting of the news."

"And how did it feel being untruthful with them?"

Harry released a heavy breath before turning to meet her gaze. "You like to ask the hard questions, don't you?" Again, she could tell his intention was light-hearted, but they both knew the question was indicative of what they'd signed up for. "It feels terrible but if, in the end, it's a path to get back together with Ginny, I think that's perhaps all that would matter to them."

"I'm a bit surprised." Daphne replied. "I really thought you might be tempted to confide in one of them."

"Ron wouldn't make sense, given that Ginny is his sister. Hermione...she'd be nonstop on my case for the ruse. Plus, it'd be unfair to put her in that position since she's with Ginny at school." Harry's reply told her that he'd seemed to have thought through his options for whether he could confide in one of them. After a moment of silence passed between the two of them, Harry turned the question back to her. "You haven't told anyone, have you?" His voice didn't seem concerned that she had.

Daphne opened her mouth to unconsciously reply with a 'no,' before it hit her that it wasn't true. "Uhh, actually…"

Harry's eyes widened. "You told someone?"

"Not exactly…" Daphne looked away from him, and reached up to brush her hair behind her ears. "It was more really bad timing…"

"Who knows?" Harry asked, insistent.

She bit her lip, and her eyes closed tight. Of all people who knew...Harry was not going to react well.

"Draco knows," she squeaked.

"Draco Malfoy?"

She knew the question was rhetorical and out of shock. What other Draco did either of them know?

"There's no way that he's going to keep this a secret." Harry sounded panicked. "Not if I'm involved."

Daphne turned to Harry who was now burying his head in his hands. "He would," she insisted. "The day after it was in the paper, Draco approached me and he'd already deduced that there was no way we were actually seeing each other. How was I supposed to know that you'd run off and want to tell the world that we were? He's one of my closest friends. Even if you are involved, he won't tell because it involves me." When Harry didn't seem to be appeased, she internally weighed what else might help. Then it dawned on her. "I also may have written him a letter…"

At that development, he poked his head back up. "Malfoy? Just who all did you write letters to?"

Daphne wanted to bury her own head, she was getting tired of answering this question. "Calm down. It was only Draco, you and Blaise. I didn't write letters to every boy at Hogwarts or anything."

Harry was quiet, clearly processing. She waited patiently until he spoke again. "You realize, if he tells-"

"He won't."

Her and Harry went back and forth a few more times before she was able to momentarily reassure him that everything would be fine. After, they moved on to discussing the logistics of how their relationship would work.

"What do you think our backstory should be?" Daphne asked. "My parents haven't asked yet but it will only be a matter of time before they do."

"We should talk about that. My friends were asking how all of this happened."

"Probably too early to say that we met at work, wouldn't it be?" Daphne asked skeptically.

Harry perked up though. "You work in the DMLE, right? When I looked you up, your office was down the hall from me."

Daphne nodded, "Yes, I took a late interest in Herbology, so I joined that division. We aren't far from each other. I suppose that might help with the charade, we'd be close enough to at least briefly interact with each other," she reasoned. "But I haven't the slightest clue what to tell people about how we met."

Silence fell upon both of them again as they each contemplated a way that would make sense.

Daphne thought back to the Prophet photo on September 1st. Harry had been connected to the project even before announcing that he would be entering the Auror training program. Earlier in the summer, when Kingsley first announced the program, Harry had been quoted in that article in support of the initiative. It hit her.

"I have it!" Daphne looked over at Harry who jumped slightly at her proclamation.

"You've been attached to the Ministry project since the beginning. I hadn't really considered the program at first. I was planning to return to school. Maybe we could say that we connected through that. I sought you out-wrote you-whatever we want to say, to inquire about the program and if I should pursue it."

Daphne watched as Harry's eyes brightened and his head bobbed in agreement as she walked through it. He picked up where she left off.

"I like it! We could say that we started growing closer as we got to know each other. We kept writing to each other or found that we kept wanting to meet with each other. We did this discreetly of course since we both had reason to so closely after the end of the war. We wanted to be sensitive…"

"My parents weren't Death Eaters," Daphne clipped. It brought an abrupt stall to their brainstorming.

Harry's eyes went wide. Daphne didn't want their conversation to get sidetracked by this but she couldn't help the chill that ran through her veins when he went in that direction. Daphne cleared her throat to reset. "If it comes up, we could recognize that we didn't want to distract from rebuilding and post-war efforts, but otherwise, I think that we can just stick to the romance, yes?"

She could see Harry swallow. He nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest-I shouldn't have assumed."

"It's fine. Let's get back to the conversation, yes?"

Daphne and Harry continued to dialogue back and forth about the details of their relationship, how specifically they had gotten to know each other and at what point they had decided to start dating.

Eventually, they started discussing some of the basic aspects of their backgrounds. Information that they should already know if they'd been dating. As their conversation progressed, the mood recovered from their earlier tense exchange. In fact, she began to recall the initial charm that Harry held fourth year when she was even inspired to write the letter. He was funny and made her laugh as he relayed a few stories about him, Ron, and Hermione from when they were at Hogwarts.

They also discussed what their public image might be in order to keep up the appearance of their arrangement. They agreed to weekly dates in public, regular lunches at work depending on their availability, and they'd agreed to depart the Ministry together on days that Harry didn't have to work late. That way, people might draw their own inferences that the two were actually spending more evenings together than what they were privy to.

Once they'd agreed to the technical terms, Daphne felt the nagging of one last topic she felt they needed to have an open conversation about. "Maybe we should, uh, take some time and talk about what we're each comfortable with-" she paused, swallowing. "Physically…"

Harry shifted back and forth in his swing, his back straightening. "Yes, I think that would be good."

Neither of them looked at each other. Both simply sat there in intense silence, with only the screeching of the swings moving back and forth cutting awkwardly through their discomfort.

"I was-"

"Do you-"

They each looked towards each other, eyes connecting, and had mirrored panic in their eyes. They looked away just as quickly before returning to silence.

Harry cleared his throat. "I want you to be comfortable with whatever we do so I'm open to whatever you are okay with."

Daphne contemplated for another moment. "I'm okay with hand holding, hugging, the basic displays of affection. I'm...hesitant that we won't be able to evade situations in which we might have to kiss again." She took a moment to breath deep, feeling her nerves starting to build. "I'd be okay with it, but it would have to be in the right scenario."

"Maybe we could have a signal?"

Daphne tried to resist a chuckle at the suggestion. Thinking of a scenario where if the moment felt worthy of a kiss, one of them would perhaps awkwardly tug their ear or scratch the right side of their nose or something. Yes, maybe that would work, as ridiculous as it sounds.

"We could do something like that; we could consider it a silent consensual request," Daphne replied. "What were you thinking?"

Unfortunately, after a while neither of them could think of anything beyond tugging their ear or scratching their nose. At one point, Harry had suggested tugging their hair. Daphne astutely relayed that from her brief observation there was no way that would work as he constantly ran his hand through his hair when he was nervous, she'd never be able to tell the difference. Harry appeared to be in denial about this observation. The next time that he almost did it, he paused, his arm in mid reach before non-discreetly lowering it back to his side. Daphne gave him a knowing smile to which she noticed he returned with a slight raise of his own lips.

"How will it all end?" Daphne asked. "You can't very well get back together with your ex if we're still together."

"We could keep things up until Christmas." He offered. "I know that you're giving up your freedom to help me. Ginny always comes home for Christmas."

Daphne pondered. "Four months. We could break up just before the holiday. That will give you the opportunity to reconnect with her."

"Even if things don't progress as they should, or if she doesn't reciprocate, we can still call it. I won't ask more of you."

Harry's terms of release from their agreement were amenable to her.

"It's a deal." She grasped the chains the stead the swing as she stood. "Well, I should be going."

Together they walked to the nearest apparition point and said their goodbyes. Daphne was grateful for an afternoon in the conservatory while she prepared herself for the upcoming week at the Ministry.

That Monday, she had just wrapped up an all day training and was headed back to her desk when he made his appearance. Her heart stopped right along with her feet as her desk came back into view. Chair back, legs crossed, hands fidgeting with quills and other knick knacks on her desk, Blaise sat there waiting for her return. She didn't have a chance to take him in a few days ago. It'd only been a few months since they broke up, however, he carried himself differently. Dawned in pristine robes, he looked more a man than the boy she dated.

Still petrified in place, Daphne felt a knot form in her throat when he suddenly looked up and locked eyes with her. The unexpected nature of his visit made it nearly impossible for her to quickly cover the surprised look on her face. Likewise, his mouth fell open slightly before closing again, as if shocked to see her there despite the fact that he was waiting for her.

After a few more beats she blinked, refusing to meet his eyes when she reopened them. She readjusted her bag on her arm and her feet began to move forward.

He stood from her chair to meet her.

"Daphne," was all he said in greeting.

She didn't think it was possible for her body to still further. His voice still resurfaced instincts in her that her mind was fighting against. Glancing around, her heart rate increased when she saw lingering eyes and lips forming inaudible whispers.

"What do you need, Blaise?" She moved around him to step in front of her desk, he turned with her.

Eyebrow quirked, "You sent me a letter, remember?"

She unconsciously shuffled through papers on her desk. "Now is really not a good time or place."

"When would be?"

Blaise had always been stubborn. It was unlikely that she'd be able to very easily rebuff him. As discreet as possible, she glanced back around the room to survey the eavesdroppers. This wouldn't do; her desk was too public.

She had him follow her into a vacant conference room. One with floor to ceiling windows. The spectators could question his visit, even if it appeared to be a quarrel, but at least a room with windows would counteract any rumors of anything more scandalous occurring. Closing the door, she turned to him, she opened her mouth to speak but he interjected.

"Daphne," he started in a familiar voice that carried the intimacy she used to hear from him in their relationship. "Are you doing okay? Since things ended between us."

Her mouth was agape. That…hadn't been what she was expecting.

"O-of course I am. I don't know why you'd think otherwise."

"Really? I get a letter from you, declaring your affections-"

She cringed, recalling the embarrassingly pining emotions contained in his.

"-I show up at the Ministry only to find you snogging Harry Potter. I think it's a very normal reaction for me to wonder if you're alright."

She didn't know what to say and so she didn't say anything.

"Did you plan it?" He asked when she failed to respond.

"No, and I don't appreciate you insinuating that I'd stage a scene like that all because of you."

"You're really dating him, then?"

Daphne stood straighter, tightening the fold of her arms against her chest. "I am."

"So, where does my letter stand in all of this?"

"It doesn't mean anything. It was simply a misunderstanding. You were never meant to get that letter; I wrote it years ago."

Blaise's gaze narrowed, they stood across from each other. Daphne was straight with her arms crossed, and Blaise was sitting casually on the table. His gaze remained hard on her, clear skepticism as he tried to break her resolve.

He broke away from her, shaking his head. "Him? Of all people…"

She felt a fire light inside of her. "You have no place to be put out by who I choose to move on with. You made it perfectly clear what our relationship meant to you. It was your decision to end things, not mine."

"Is it a rebound?"

"No."

"Is it serious?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't know what point you're trying to get to. I'm dating Harry. It's of no concern to you and if you can't deal with it, that's not my problem."

Blaise didn't respond. He sucked in a tight breath before standing up. He looked back at her and just as he'd opened his mouth to say something, the door opened.

Jumping slightly, she looked towards the doorway to see Harry.

"Daphne," He only briefly glanced towards Blaise before gesturing towards out the doorway. "Uh, are you ready to go?"

She swallowed, looking back towards Blaise who had the nerve to look wounded. Turning back to Harry, she nodded in affirmation. With a subsequent nod towards Blaise to signal their conversation was over, Harry followed her out of the room and waited as she collected her things. Joining him to make their way towards the exit, she almost stopped mid-step when she felt his hand grab hers. A light layer of sweat seemed to have formed on his palm. He awkwardly squeezed her hand. Looking up at him in surprise, he only briefly met her eye, extending a comforting smile before looking ahead and leading them away.

A/N: I'm incredibly thankful for iforgottocall who helped me with this chapter!

Thank you all so much for your comments and support of this story. It makes me so happy that you're enjoying it! Thank you for reading another chapter!