Chapter One Hundred: Snape Victorious
"He wants to get rid of someone?" Harry asked with a frown that evening.
Daphne had managed to return to Fred and George's shop undetected — and had even been on time to buy Ginny a Pygmy Puff for her upcoming birthday — and she, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron were now lounging in Fred and George's room.
"That's what he told Borgin, anyway, though I only caught 'get rid of someone' of that sentence. I'm just going by how Borgin reacted to it, here," Daphne said.
"Would he really do something like that, though?" Hermione asked.
"He's a scumbag," Ron said simply.
"I know that, just…outright murder? There's a big difference between being a bully and a bigoted idiot and being a murderer," Hermione said.
"Well, he seems to be planning something, regardless."
"How'd he get Borgin to go along with it, anyway?" Harry asked. "When I was in there just before second year he seemed to be afraid of Lucius, but I can't imagine anyone being intimidated by Draco."
"I'm not too sure about that, either," Daphne admitted. "He showed Borgin something, and that seemed to do the trick."
"What if he's a Death Eater?" Harry asked.
Ron laughed. "Malfoy? Come off it, Harry. Even You-Know-Who wouldn't want a git like him."
"It's not very likely," Hermione agreed.
"Not at face value, no," Daphne said, "but Lucius screwed up badly at the Ministry. Voldemort isn't particularly forgiving, is he? What better way to get revenge than to recruit his son?"
"You think Voldemort expects him to fail to get rid of…whoever it is, then?" Ginny asked.
Daphne nodded. "I think so. I mean, Malfoy told Borgin that Fenrir Greyback would be checking in on him while Malfoy is at school. He isn't working alone, at the very least, and from what I know of Greyback's reputation, he's not the sort of guy who would just humor Malfoy in some stupid plan unless someone more powerful than him told him to. And aside from Voldemort I'm not really sure who could…unless Malfoy is working for Greyback instead, but Greyback's reputation is for savagery, not stealthy assassinations, so that doesn't seem likely either."
"But to make a sixteen-year-old a Death Eater?" Hermione said. "It doesn't seem like Voldemort's style, does it?"
"What, punishing a parent through his child? Seems right up his alley to me," Ginny said. "Plus, Voldemort probably isn't happy about Lucius losing his diary, either, aside from the prophecy thing. I don't think we should rule it out entirely. Maybe you should tell Dumbledore about it," she added to Daphne.
Daphne nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Dumbledore can get Snape to keep an eye on him…" she mused.
"Is Snape really on our side, though?" Ron asked.
Daphne nodded. "He is. I told you, I know why Dumbledore trusts him. He's on our side, I promise you."
Ron didn't seem convinced, and Daphne couldn't really blame him. Despite Snape's upswing in treatment of the Gryffindors in classes since Daphne found out his secret, it was still clear that he didn't like them, especially Harry, Ron, and Neville, and he still heavily favored the Slytherins when it came to giving points.
But Daphne didn't really care if the others trusted Snape or not. Even if she hadn't either, Dumbledore still did, so it would be inevitable that Dumbledore would tell Snape about Malfoy if they contacted him.
"I'll write a letter to Dumbledore right away," Daphne said. "Wasn't Sirius coming over later? We can give it to him."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, that's probably best. I'm not sure what they'll be able to do, since we're not in school yet, but Dumbledore should definitely know about it."
Sirius had not been especially convinced of the idea that Malfoy might be a Death Eater, but he did agree to deliver the message to Dumbledore, agreeing that on the off-chance it was true, it had to be reported.
It came as a bit of a surprise, therefore, when Dumbledore showed up at the Burrow a day later, asking to speak with Harry and Daphne.
"I received your letter and decided it would be best to respond in person," Dumbledore said. They'd retreated to Fred and George's room to discuss the matter in private. "Lest an unsatisfactory answer spur you on to find out more, I can tell you that your concerns have been heard. However, it is not up to you to act against Mr. Malfoy in this capacity. For the sake of security, I cannot and will not say more about how this matter will be handled, but you may rest assured that it will. It may, however, take time."
"And if Malfoy attacks either of us?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore smiled. "Then you may, of course, defend yourself. I gather you proved yourself quite competent at non-harmful solutions last year and I would ask you to restrain yourself to those again, if at all possible. I am of course well aware of the difficulties of such a thing when faced with someone belligerent, but I have the utmost faith in you."
"I'll do my best, sir," Harry said.
"Very good. I have your word then that you will not attempt to find out more about Mr. Malfoy, and to leave him be except to defend yourself, if necessary?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry and Daphne both nodded.
"Good," Dumbledore said again. "Then I shall see you at the opening feast, and I bid you both good night." He gave them both a friendly nod and left the room.
"Absolutely barmy," Ron said when Daphne and Harry had told him and the others what Dumbledore had said. "He really came all the way here just to tell you that?"
"Well, he's well aware of the trouble you guys end up in every year," Ginny said. "If he'd just written a note saying, 'thanks, but it's cool', d'you think either Daphne or Harry would've let it go?"
Daphne giggled at the idea of Dumbledore writing a note with those exact words on it, and then said, "I wouldn't have, at least, so I think he did the right thing in showing up. I mean, we can hardly accuse him of not taking us seriously since he came over in person, can we?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think he really wants us to stay out of this one. I promised I would, too, so I guess I'll just leave it up to Dumbledore. Maybe he'll mention it during one of our lessons, though I doubt it."
When the morning of departure had arrived, they were picked up once again by Ministry cars. At King's Cross, two grim-faced Aurors were waiting for them and marched alongside the group as they made their way to the platform.
"Cheery lads, aren't they?" Daphne asked Ginny, loud enough for the Auror next to them to hear her.
"Truly the life of any party, I imagine," Ginny replied with a nod.
Sadly, the Auror didn't give any sort of reaction to it.
The Auror next to Harry, however, seemed to take his job even more seriously, as he actually grabbed Harry's arm to escort him through the barrier, which both Daphne and Ginny found very funny, especially since Harry looked extremely annoyed by it.
Indeed, by the time Daphne and the others had passed through the barrier as well, Harry had already distanced himself a bit from the Auror, and was gesturing at the others to join him in finding a compartment.
"We'll catch up with you later, Harry," Hermione said. "Ron and I've got to go to the Prefect carriage and then patrol the corridors for a bit."
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Harry said.
They said a quick goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley — Daphne gave a wave to the Aurors as well, but neither responded — and then entered the train.
Hermione and Ron set off for the Prefect carriage, leaving Daphne, Harry, and Ginny to find a compartment on their own. As they walked through the train, it became apparent that people found Harry even more interesting than they'd done the year before. It seemed like everyone was staring at him, and he seemed especially popular with Hogwarts's female population.
Soon, they ran into Neville and Luna as well, and the five of them found a compartment at last and quickly went inside, loading their trunks into the luggage racks.
"You didn't bring that cactus again, did you?" Daphne asked the moment she'd sat down and let Nyx out of her basket.
Neville shook his head and smiled sheepishly. "No, don't worry. I've learned my lesson… Did you see all those people staring, though? They're even staring at us," he said.
"Well, you were there at the Ministry as well," Harry said. "And our visit there was all over the paper, wasn't it?"
"Yes, I thought Gran would be angry about all the publicity, but she was really pleased. Says I'm starting to live up to my dad at long last. She bought me a new wand, look!" He pulled out his wand and showed it to them. "Cherry and unicorn hair," he said proudly. "We think it was one of the last Ollivander ever sold, he vanished next day… Oi, come back here, Trevor!" He dived beneath the bench to recapture Trevor.
"I'm looking forward to the Order meetings this year, Harry," Luna said dreamily. She had taken a pair of spectacles out of her edition of the Quibbler and now looked mildly more deranged than she usually did.
Harry nodded enthusiastically. "So am I. We've practiced loads over the summer, so–"
He fell silent when there was a disturbance outside their compartment door. A group of fourth-year girls was whispering and giggling together on the other side of the glass.
"You ask him!"
"No, you!"
"I'll do it!"
One of the girls, who had long black hair, a prominent chin and large dark eyes, entered the compartment.
"Hi Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane," she said loudly and confidently. "Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," she added in a stage whisper, indicating Neville and Luna.
"They're my friends," Harry said coldly.
"And we're his girlfriends," Ginny said, indicating Daphne and herself.
Daphne gave her a surprised, yet happy look that she'd apparently decided that the secret was no longer necessary. Of course, given that their families and the entire Order of the Phoenix already knew, it was hardly 'secret' anymore anyway.
"Both of you?" Romilda asked, surprised.
"Yep," Daphne said cheerfully, and Harry nodded.
Romilda backed up, looking very confused, and closed the door behind her, and the group of girls left, chattering excitedly.
"While I'm all for making our relationship public…aren't they just going to think they have a chance with me now as well?" Harry asked uncomfortably.
Ginny shrugged. "We'll deal with that when we have to. I say we tell everyone else at the first Order meeting…come to think of it, neither of you knew either, did you? Daphne and I are dating too, by the way," she said to Neville and Luna.
"I didn't know," Luna said. "But I think it's pretty interesting. Most people wouldn't think of it because of all the Wrackspurts around them, but I don't see many around you, so I guess it makes sense."
"I didn't know either," Neville said, emerging from under the bench, clutching Trevor. "But I can't say it surprises me much, either, actually. I mean, no offense, but you're all pretty weird."
Daphne grinned widely. "Thanks for the compliment."
Some time later, Ron and Hermione finally entered the compartment as well and sat down. "I wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving," Ron said. "Guess what?" he added to the compartment at large. "Zabini is the new Slytherin sixth-year Prefect since Malfoy got stripped of his badge."
"Makes sense," Daphne said. "He's the only one in our year who doesn't have a Death Eater for a parent, even though he remains a pureblood supremacist."
"Oh, and Lucy is actually one of the fifth-year Prefects for Slytherin," Hermione added, and Daphne nodded appreciatively.
"Nice. Glad it's someone from S.I.N.," she said.
At that moment, Ginny re-entered the compartment, returning from the bathroom, and she was carrying three scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon. She looked a bit embarrassed handing them over to Harry, Daphne, and Neville.
"You're not going to believe this…" she said.
Daphne opened the scroll and read it. "An invitation for lunch?" she asked incredulously.
Ginny nodded. "I ran into Warrington just now and he was taunting me, so I hexed him. Slughorn saw it and I thought I'd get in trouble, but instead he said it was a really good spell and invited me to lunch, and then asked me if I could deliver these scrolls to you after he found out I knew you."
"Who's Professor Slughorn?" Neville asked. "And what does he want with me?"
"He's a new teacher," Harry said. "And I think I know why he wants us, too."
"Oh, right," Daphne said. "You said he liked to make connections and know people, didn't you? That explains why he'd want people from Noble Houses, Harry Potter himself, and…a very talented and pretty girl, I suppose," she added with a grin at Ginny, who rolled her eyes.
"Slimeball," she said, though she grinned back all the same.
"Well, we'd better go then, huh?" Harry said. He didn't sound very enthusiastic, and Daphne laughed.
"Well, creating a network of people can be useful, you know. That's how Mum got your Quidditch ban lifted last year. It's pretty Slytherin, though, I guess, so I can imagine your delicate Gryffindor sensibilities don't like it much…" she said.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Harry said tolerantly.
They made their way over to compartment C, as indicated by the invitation, and sure enough, there were quite a few people there who were well-connected, including Zabini, who gave Daphne a curt nod but entirely ignored Harry, Neville, and Ginny, and McLaggen, who raised his hand at all of them.
Slughorn then began to interrogate everyone on their connections, until he eventually arrived at Harry.
"Where to begin?" he asked theatrically. "I feel I barely scratched the surface when we met over the summer! The 'Chosen One', they're calling you now! Of course, there have been rumors for years…I remember when…well…after that terrible night…Lily…James…and you survived…and the word was that you must have powers beyond the ordinary…"
Zabini gave a skeptical cough.
"Yeah, Zabini, because you're so talented…at posing…" Ginny muttered angrily.
Slughorn found this amusing and told Zabini to be wary of Ginny's Bat-Bogey Hex, and then returned to questioning Harry about what had happened at the Ministry.
"The stories were so sensational, of course, one doesn't know what to believe! This fabled prophecy, for instance…"
"We never heard a prophecy," Neville said quickly, turning pink.
"That's right," Ginny added. "Neville, Daphne, and I were there too, and all this 'Chosen One' rubbish is just the Prophet making things up as usual."
"You were there too, were you?" Slughorn asked with great interest, looking at all three of them in turn. "Yes, well, it is true that the Prophet often exaggerates, of course…"
He sounded a bit disappointed and then launched into some story about Gwenog Jones that Daphne could not possibly have found less interesting, but Slughorn just would not stop talking.
Daphne looked at the other people in the compartment in turn, most of whom were at least attempting to listen to Slughorn. When her eyes met Zabini's, he gave a little roll of his eyes. In spite of her dislike of him, Daphne grinned when she saw it.
It was already getting dark by the time Slughorn finally allowed them all to go back to their own compartments, and they were only just in time to get dressed into their school robes before the train pulled into the station.
Shortly afterward, they were shuffling along the platform toward the Thestral-drawn coaches, and when they'd reached the castle, Daphne said goodbye to her friends — with kisses for Harry and Ginny — and sat down next to Tracey at the Slytherin table.
She spotted Lucy a few seats over and said, "Hey! Congrats on the badge!"
Lucy smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.
At that moment, the first-years were led in by McGonagall, and the Sorting Hat sang a song which, like the year before, focused on the importance of unity.
Then, at long last, the Sorting was over and dinner began.
Afterward, Dumbledore stood up as usual, spreading his arms wide in greeting — and gasps went through the students when they saw his blackened right hand. Harry had told them about it, and Daphne had seen it herself when Dumbledore had come to visit the Burrow over the summer, but it did look fairly grim and she understood everyone's reactions.
"What d'you think happened to it?" Tracey asked.
Daphne shrugged. "I don't know…but for something to have done this to Dumbledore… must've been something really powerful…"
Harry had said that Dumbledore hadn't wanted to discuss his injury, so whatever it was, the cause had to remain a secret at least for the time being.
Dumbledore indeed waved the injury away as 'nothing to worry about' and then went on with his usual announcements — and then he welcomed Slughorn as the new Potions master.
"Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts," Dumbledore said.
"I thought Slughorn would do Defense," Daphne mused, but she realized that Harry had only assumed he'd be taking that job and hadn't been certain. And of course, their parents hadn't told them, because no one had asked.
"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows," Dumbledore went on when everyone had quieted down again, "Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe.
"The castle's magical protections have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff.
"I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them — in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately.
"I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and each other's safety."
He swept his eyes across the Hall, and Daphne got the impression he specifically looked at her and Harry as a reminder of their conversation a few days earlier.
"Fantastic, another year with extra security," Tracey groaned. "The Order meetings are going to be a pain again, aren't they?"
Daphne shrugged. "I'm sure we'll be fine. First, we'll need to see what these measures even are. At least it's not Educational Decrees this time…"
I think that in the book, Harry sitting with Neville and Luna and referring to them as his friends when Romilda Vane enters is a clever callback to Order of the Phoenix, when he was with them as well and wished he could be sitting with cooler people. Now, getting that chance, he rejects it in favor of his fire-forged friends. That's obvious, I know, but it's one of the many fairly subtle things that I really do like about the books despite their issues. Why have the scene at all if the relationship between Harry and Daphne, at least, is well-known? Well that's a bit of a callback to myself, when Rita's stories were saying that Hermione was Harry's girlfriend and he constantly had to correct everyone, despite assuming even then that everyone already knew about him and Daphne.
Also…one hundred chapters of this story. Holy shit.