Chapter One Hundred and Two: Going Public
Harry had been interested to hear about Nott's plan to discover what Malfoy was up to, but not much had come of it thus far. Daphne presumed Nott simply hadn't had any time to talk to Malfoy, as the workload of the sixth-years was immense.
Daphne only had four subjects, and even then she barely had any free time left, although in fairness that was partially because she was determined to get an 'Outstanding' on all of them in the end. It was a good thing too that she'd already been practicing nonverbal spells over the summer break in dueling practice, because they were now required in all her classes, even for the new spells.
Harry had, by now, had his first private lesson with Dumbledore, but to Daphne's surprise all he'd done there was talk about Voldemort's past.
The Saturday after his first lesson with Dumbledore, Harry had planned both the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts and the first Order meeting of the year, so it was going to be a very busy day.
"There've been so many signups for the tryouts," Harry said nervously at breakfast. "The team's never been this popular before…"
"Oh, come on, Harry," Hermione said. "It's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you! You've never been more interesting, and, as I'm sure your girlfriends will agree, you've never been more fanciable. Everyone knows you've been telling the truth now, don't they? The whole wizarding world has had to admit that you were right about Voldemort being back and that you really have fought him twice in the last two years and escaped both times. And now they're calling you the 'Chosen One'. Well, come on, can't you see why people are fascinated by you?"
Harry nodded slowly. "I suppose," he said hesitantly. "I hope there'll be any actual applicants for the team, then, in that case…"
After breakfast, they all headed to the Quidditch pitch together. Hermione and Daphne wished Ginny and Ron luck in their tryouts and then went to find a seat in the stands to watch.
"Wow, that really is a lot of people," Daphne said when she saw everyone standing on the pitch.
"D'you think Ron's going to make it?" Hermione asked nervously.
"He should be able to…though if his nerves get the better of him…" Daphne said.
"As long as he does better than him," she added when she spotted McLaggen.
"Why?" Hermione asked curiously. "Aside, of course, from wanting Ron to do well."
"McLaggen is an idiot," Daphne said. "Or, well, he was two years ago; it's possible he's changed since then… Oh, God, and that girl there, she was hitting on Harry when were on the train."
"Ah, yes, you told me. She's the reason the rumors about you and Harry and Ginny are going around now, right?" Hermione asked.
Daphne nodded. The rumor that Harry Potter had two girlfriends had indeed somehow spread around the school, and Daphne was half-surprised no one had confronted her about it yet. Not that it mattered much; at the Order meeting tonight Harry was going to tell everyone what was going on anyway.
Harry opened the trials with a basic flying test, and it soon turned out he'd been right to do so, as many of the hopefuls couldn't even complete one lap around the pitch without causing some kind of catastrophe.
It also turned out that McLaggen was, in fact, still an idiot. Daphne and Hermione could hear him loudly criticizing everyone else on the pitch, and Daphne considered simply Stunning him for the hell of it.
When the tryouts began in earnest, it was plain to see that Harry had been receiving professional training for quite some time, as he put everyone through their paces so rigorously that many applicants gave up of their own accord.
In the end, Ginny made it in quite easily, having had some training from Mum on her own as well in addition to being talented. She was joined by Katie Bell, whose experience and technique were phenomenal after years of being on the team, and Demelza Robins, who was very agile and adept at dodging Bludgers.
The new Beaters were called Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote, though, like Demelza, Daphne had never really met them and only knew their names because Hermione had told her.
Then came the selection of the Keepers, and Daphne could see that Harry was nearly as nervous as Ron was. The first few applicants weren't great, but then McLaggen came up and, to Daphne's great annoyance, performed well.
"Score, score, score," Daphne muttered as the final penalty was lined up.
To her great surprise, McLaggen shot in completely the wrong direction, and Daphne glanced to her right to ask Hermione why she thought that had happened just in time to see her stowing away her wand. She immediately put things together.
"Did you silently Confund him?" she asked with an amused look.
Hermione looked away and Daphne laughed. "I knew you'd come round to breaking rules eventually."
She looked up and saw Ron flying up toward the rings.
"Good luck, Ron!" she shouted, and Hermione added, "You can do it!"
Whether it was the support or seeing McLaggen fail, Ron performed incredibly well and saved all five penalties.
Daphne looked at Harry to see his reaction, and by the looks of it McLaggen wasn't happy with the result, as he seemed to be threatening Harry. Harry, of course, had stared down Voldemort himself on more than one occasion, and thus wasn't intimidated in the slightest, and soon McLaggen stalked off angrily.
"Still an idiot, then," Daphne remarked, though Hermione had already gone ahead to congratulate Ron, and Daphne quickly hurried over as well.
"Well done, both of you," she said with a grin.
"I'm glad McLaggen didn't make it in," Ginny said. "He was talking down to everyone the entire time; he was driving me nuts. I was this close to hexing him."
"You weren't the only one," Harry said darkly. "He is never playing on this team as long as I'm Captain. Even if he were absolutely world-class, his attitude is terrible and the team needs to be able to work together."
After a quick visit to Hagrid — who was rather distraught as Aragog, the Acromantula about whom Daphne had learned from Voldemort's diary, was dying — they headed back to the castle, and that evening, for the first time in what felt like forever, entered the Room of Requirement for an Order meeting.
Everyone was apparently quite eager to get started again, as everyone had arrived a good fifteen minutes before the meeting was due to start.
Especially Hannah Abbott seemed grimly determined; her mother had been found dead the day before and she seemed to want to deal with her grief in a thoroughly active way.
"Given the difficult circumstances at the moment, we'll keep things short, and we'll save the less-important news for the end of the meeting," Harry said. "Since Snape is, though it pains me to admit it, a decent Defense teacher, I think the main object of these meetings will be practicing our jinxes and hexes, and sparring in various forms.
"For those in sixth year or above, try to use nonverbal spells as much as you can. Lower years, feel free to try as well, if you want to — it's certainly good to be prepared — but don't sweat it too much. We're not getting graded, here, and you're in this to make yourself better, and ideally your training partners as well. Being crafty in a duel is fine and encouraged, but keep actual harmful jinxes and hexes to a minimum, if at all possible."
They then divided up into pairs and began dueling. Harry took Hannah aside for a moment and allowed her to duel him with everything she had, just so she could vent her anger and sadness without risking anyone else's health unnecessarily. Once she'd burned out her most immediate emotions, she partnered up with Neville, and Harry observed everyone else.
Naturally, Daphne and Ginny fought each other near the end of the meeting and got way too into it.
"Got some unresolved sexual tension to work out, have you?" Seamus said jokingly after Daphne had narrowly won the duel.
"Funny you should mention that," Ginny said.
She shot a look at Harry, who shrugged and nodded.
"I suppose all you lot have been hearing the rumors going around?" Ginny went on.
Most people muttered something to the affirmative.
"Well, you can stop wondering, because the rumors are completely true, in addition to being incomplete," Ginny said.
The muttering in the room increased in volume, and Daphne grinned at Ginny's bluntness.
"The truth is that Harry, Daphne, and I are all in a relationship with each other, meaning Harry with both Daphne and me, and Daphne and I with each other too. Yes, that is unusual. No, we are not currently dating anyone else. No, this is not a secret, so yes, you're free to gossip about it. Merlin knows Harry hasn't got enough rumors going around about him already anyway…"
Before anyone could ask any questions, Harry said, "Well, that about does it for today. I'm not sure when the next one will be, so keep an eye on your Galleons. See you next time!"
To Daphne's relief, most of the conversations people were having on their way out of the Room of Requirement were about the class, and not the relationship. She fully expected people would eventually question her about it, but she was glad it wasn't immediate.
The next evening, just as she was making her way to dinner with Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, they ran into Slughorn in the hallway.
"Ah, I was just hoping to see all of you," he said. "What do you say to a spot of supper in my rooms tonight? We're having a little party, just a few rising stars. I've got McLaggen coming, and Zabini, the charming Melinda Bobbin — I don't know whether you know her? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries."
"Sir, with respect, I despise McLaggen and I'm not too friendly with Zabini, either. If it's all the same to you, I'll pass," Daphne said.
To her surprise, Slughorn laughed. "You're quite like your mother, in that regard. Yes, try as I might to get her to join my little club, she would never relent because Gwenog was there as well… What about you, Harry, Miss Granger, Miss Weasley?" He seemed to ignore Ron's existence entirely.
"I'll pass as well, same reason," Ginny said.
"Sorry, sir, I'm not interested, either, but thanks for the offer," Harry said.
Hermione seemed to struggle with saying no to a teacher, so Daphne did it for her.
"Come on, you were going to explain the theory behind that charm, weren't you?" she asked.
"Oh, er…yeah! Er, sorry, Professor," Hermione said sheepishly.
"Ah, such a shame," Slughorn lamented. "But there is always next time. I can be very persuasive, you know," he said with a wide smile.
Daphne shuddered. "Can you imagine what it must be like to have that guy fancying you? He'd never leave you alone," she said as they walked into the Great Hall.
"He acted like he didn't even see me," Ron said angrily.
"He just wants to collect people for his network," Harry said. "And I have no desire to be the main attraction in it." He looked at Daphne. "Good thing you said no first. I wouldn't have known how to get myself out of it."
Daphne chuckled. "It depends on the person. Slughorn wants you to attend, so beating around the bush will just egg him on. He can't really do much with a direct 'no' other than simply trying again next time."
"Won't he eventually get angry about that, though?" Ginny asked.
Daphne shrugged. "And then what? He can give us detention and assign the dinner itself as the punishment, but that wouldn't help him much. His network is built on the people attending his parties making new connections that are beneficial to them, and his reward is their gratitude and some minor favors.
"Dragging you there against your will would defeat the point. It's really not malicious, but I don't need it because my family already has connections — which is why he wants me there in the first place — Harry doesn't need it because he's got enough people gaping at him, and you and Hermione…well, it might actually be useful for you, if you can get past the fact that slugs like McLaggen and blood purists like Zabini go there as well, but obviously you don't need Slughorn's connections to be successful in life, so if you don't want to go, just don't," she said.
"Any way he'd ever invite me?" Ron asked.
"Maybe if you play a fantastic opening Quidditch game," Daphne said. "He wants people who are already famous, people who know a lot of people, and people with obvious talents, so if you've got any of those things, you can probably get invited. Alternatively, Hermione could go and you could go with her. I'm sure Slughorn doesn't mind partners attending as long as he gets the person he wants at his party."
"Would you want to come if he asks again?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Of course I would," Ron said, sounding almost insulted that she'd think otherwise.
"Well, then I'll ask him if you can come too next time," Hermione said with a slight blush.
"Would either of you come if I went?" Ginny asked Daphne and Harry.
"Yeah, if you go I'd join you," Daphne said. "I'm used to boring parties like that. Well, I haven't been at one since I came to Hogwarts, but I vividly remember them from when I was younger, anyway…"
"I…don't know," Harry admitted. "It could be fun to go with you, but…I hate being the center of attention except during Quidditch games, and Slughorn would make me the center of attention. And he thinks I'm a Potions prodigy too…"
"Oh dear, how terrible," Hermione said icily. She still didn't approve of Harry's use of the Half-Blood Prince's book.
"Well," Daphne said quickly, not in the mood for another discussion about that topic. "Maybe he simply won't ask again."
Sorry, kind of short chapter today, but I really didn't have any time and the challenge must go on.
