Chapter One Hundred and Four: Curse and Comfort

For a short moment, Daphne didn't really know what to do. It still felt like ants were crawling all over her body and her breathing was shallow and ragged.

Then, she decided that the first thing she wanted to do was get back to Harry, so she quickly left the bathroom and made her way back over to their table.

When Harry saw her expression, he immediately become serious. "What happened?" he asked.

"Madam Rosmerta…in the bathroom…she Imperiused me," Daphne said, still unable to get her breathing back under control.

"What?!" Harry said. "Are you okay?!"

"I Stunned her," Daphne said.

Harry was already digging in his pocket and pulled out a small mirror. "Sirius Black," he said to it.

Mere seconds later, Sirius's face appeared in the mirror. "Harry? What's going on?" he asked, seeing Harry's grim expression.

"Daphne was just Imperiused by Madam Rosmerta in the Three Broomsticks," Harry said.

Sirius's eyes widened in alarm. "Stay there. We'll be there in a moment," Sirius said, and the mirror went blank again.

By this point, Hermione and Ron had seen that something was wrong and had come over to the table of Daphne and Harry just in time to hear Harry talking to Sirius.

"Ron, you stay here. I'll go and make sure Madam Rosmerta isn't going anywhere," Hermione said.

She immediately headed over to the bathroom, while Daphne sat down at the table, closed her eyes, and tried to get some semblance of control over herself. She was shivering like she'd just been dunked in ice water.

A hand on her shoulder made her open her eyes again. Harry had moved his chair closer to hers and held out her Butterbeer to her.

"Here. Maybe it'll warm you up a bit…should've bought some chocolate at Honeydukes," he said with a smile.

"That's for Dementors," Daphne said, though she was able to return a faint smile to Harry and took a sip of Butterbeer.

At that moment, Sirius, Kingsley, and Tonks came into the Three Broomsticks and looked around. Spotting Harry and the others, they instantly marched over to them.

"Where is Madam Rosmerta?" Sirius asked.

"In the bathroom. Hermione's keeping an eye on her," Harry said.

Tonks immediately left to go and check, while Sirius pulled up a chair and sat down as well.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Daphne shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I'm fine, I just…the Imperius Curse…" She shivered violently and took another sip of Butterbeer.

Sirius nodded. "I get it. Can you tell us what happened?"

"Not much to tell. I stepped into the bathroom and I immediately got hit with the curse. Moody's trained us all to fight it off, though, so that training kicked in and I immediately Stunned Madam Rosmerta, who was the only other person in there," Daphne said.

"It doesn't seem like Rosmerta to have gone over," Sirius mused to Kingsley.

"Perhaps she was Imperiused as well," Kingsley suggested.

"Tonks will probably know by now…oh, there they are now," Sirius said, looking up. "You stay here, okay? I'll come back in a moment."

He and Kingsley made their way over to Tonks, Hermione, and Madam Rosmerta, who looked dazed and confused. Daphne didn't know whether that was a lingering effect of the Stunner, being slammed into the well, being Imperiused herself, or a combination of any of those things, and she didn't care either. She simply turned her back to it and focused on taking small sips of her Butterbeer. How pathetic that she still couldn't stop shaking. She was fine, wasn't she? Why couldn't she just shake it off?

"Well," she said ruefully. "Guess I ruined the date, then."

"Of course you haven't," Harry said. "How on earth could it be your fault you got Imperiused?"

"I wasn't vigilant, Moody would say," Daphne said.

"D'you really think that?" Ron asked. "Because I think he'd be pretty pleased you fought off the Imperius and immediately Stunned the person who put it on you."

Daphne shrugged noncommittally. If she'd been paying attention she would've been able to dodge the Curse, she was sure of that. What if it had been a Killing Curse? She'd be dead right now.

"Stop it," Harry said, and Daphne gave him a quizzical look. "I know that expression. You're thinking of all sorts of ways to blame this on yourself somehow," Harry said. "So stop it. This isn't your fault and you have done nothing wrong."

Daphne said nothing. She appreciated that Harry was trying to protect her from herself, but he was wrong. It was her fault. She'd been caught off guard, that was all there was to it.

She heard people approaching and saw Sirius and Hermione coming over. Glancing over Sirius's shoulder, Daphne saw Kingsley and Tonks escorting Madam Rosmerta outside. She wasn't restrained, so Daphne guessed she hadn't been acting of her own volition.

"Rosmerta was Imperiused as well," Sirius said, confirming Daphne's guess. "She doesn't know who did it, but it turned out that her orders were to give a package to a Hogwarts student, who was to present it to Dumbledore as a gift. We haven't opened the package yet, but we're sure it's nothing good."

"Malfoy," Harry said bitterly, and Daphne thought she hadn't ever heard as much hatred in his voice as there was now, even for Voldemort.

"You mean because of what you heard over the summer?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"Yeah. Dumbledore told us he'd keep an eye on things, but I guess he didn't expect this," Harry said, and Daphne could hear that Harry was angry at Dumbledore as well. For some reason, that seemed to warm her up immediately.

"Well, if he didn't before, he surely will now," Sirius said. With a pained expression, he went on, "But unless Rosmerta somehow remembers who put the Imperius on her, there isn't anything to tie Malfoy to this incident. What you overheard during the summer is hearsay at best and even though Lucius is imprisoned, Narcissa isn't, and she'll make sure her son gets off unless we have ironclad evidence against him, even though I'd gladly take him in for questioning immediately. I doubt he'll even be punished, especially since Snape will probably protect him, too."

"How come the justice system in the wizarding world is such complete rubbish?" Harry asked angrily.

Sirius smiled sadly. "Because old families have a lot of money and influence. Daphne's family is wealthy and influential as well, but even they can't get Malfoy in trouble without solid evidence, and I can safely tell you that Edmund and Amaranth are beyond pissed off, so the moment they hear about your suspicions, they'll want to try."

"You've told them already?" Daphne asked, surprised.

"Tonks was at headquarters when I contacted her and Amaranth was there as well," Sirius said. "I'm pretty sure they'll be in Hogsmeade in a bit to see you, actually. I just told them to give us a moment to get everything sorted out here, but having gotten to know them a bit since they joined the Order, I doubt they'll keep you waiting for long."

He looked at Harry. "So, other than your girlfriend having an Unforgivable used on her during your date, how are things?" he asked.

In spite of himself, Harry grinned and told Sirius about the school year thus far.

"By the way, Sirius, have you ever heard of someone calling himself 'the Half-Blood Prince'?" Harry asked when he'd gotten to describing Potions.

"No, but he sounds like a prat, using a pretentious title like that. At least our nicknames sounded cool," Sirius said. "Why?"

Harry quickly explained about the book, its instructions, and the spells written in the margins, including Levicorpus.

"That spell was a huge fad around the time we were in school," Sirius said, thinking. "James and I used it quite a lot."

"When you were bullying people, you mean," Daphne said coldly.

"Harry, your girlfriend is scarily like Lily sometimes. You are, well and truly, James's son. But yes, Daphne, when we were bullying people," Sirius said, a bit uncomfortably. "Mostly Snape, come to think of it…but y'know…that's Snape. It's not like he didn't give as good as he got. He certainly never let an opportunity to hex either of us go to waste, either."

"Trust me, you don't want to get into that discussion with Daphne," Harry said with a faint grin. "She doesn't like it when I use the Prince's spells on people, either…"

"Not unprovoked," Daphne corrected. "If they attack you first, by all means make their toenails grow through shoes while their tongue is glued to the roof of their mouths, dangling upside down by the ankle."

"Well, leaving aside the obvious comedic value in these spells — and I certainly won't tell you not to use them on people like Malfoy, especially if he's indeed responsible for this — I do think using spells without knowing what they do is a bit reckless. Yes, Harry, even I think that," Sirius added, seeing Harry's incredulous expression.

"James and I may have been arrogant little berks, but we always knew what would happen when we used our jinxes and hexes. If we came across one and we didn't know what it did, we experimented first…sometimes convinced Wormtail to be our guinea pig if we were reasonably sure it wasn't fatal, which, in retrospect, we should've done far more often than we did…and only then did we use them against people we didn't like."

"Wasn't he your friend back then?" Hermione asked, shocked.

Sirius smiled guiltily. "Well…yes and no. He was an adoring fan, and James and I loved that. He wasn't anywhere near as skilled as we were, but he always wanted to be included, always wanted to be a part of the group, and he nearly worshiped the ground we trod on.

"I think Remus was the only one who actually liked him, and later Lily did, too. And, to be fair, once James and I stopped being, y'know, quite so arrogant, we liked him too, mostly. But at first…we were probably nearly as bad to him as we were to others."

Daphne exchanged a look with Harry, and she knew that both of them were wondering the same thing. Seeing Sirius's guilty expression, she was fairly certain he was thinking about it as well.

The pub's door opened once more and Daphne saw Mum and Dad coming in, both looking anxious.

By now, many other people in the pub had been shooting glances at the table where Daphne and the others were seated, and trying to catch what was going on, but since the general noisiness hadn't died down even for a moment, Daphne doubted they would've heard much.

Mum and Dad hurried over to Daphne and the others.

"Are you okay?!" Mum asked frantically.

Daphne nodded. "Yeah, I guess," she said.

It wasn't entirely true; she still felt a bit sick, but her parents seemed worried enough already and she was feeling much better than a few minutes ago.

"Harry, I need to get back to the Ministry and handle some paperwork about this," Sirius said. "We'll stay in touch, alright?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Sirius," he said.

"Thanks," Daphne echoed.

Sirius smiled, raised his hand in greeting, and then left. Daphne quickly filled in Mum and Dad on what had happened, as well as on the theory that Malfoy was behind it.

"I will erase that family from history," Mum seethed when Daphne was done talking.

"We should kick them through the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries," Dad said. "Lucius knows the way there, after all…"

"But…what about finding proof?" Hermione asked.

"Yes…we should at least be certain he's actually guilty, I suppose," Dad said. He sounded disappointed.

Mum said nothing, and Daphne knew that she was holding back a stream of horrible swears and insults and threats.

Somehow, seeing her parents this angry gave her the same warm feeling as she'd felt when Harry had been angry on her behalf. It wasn't like she wasn't angry herself, of course, but the idea that people considered her important enough that they'd be pushed to murderous rage over having the Imperius Curse used on her made her happy in a weird way.

"I hope Dumbledore will seriously look into this," Dad said. "And if there's even a shred of evidence implicating Malfoy, we're taking all of them down."

"The Imperius Curse doesn't cause memory loss though, does it? Shouldn't Madam Rosmerta remember who cast it on her?" Hermione asked.

"Not if she was either Obliviated afterward, or ordered to Obliviate herself or drink a Forgetfulness Potion while Imperiused," Dad said.

"Can't those memories be recovered?" Ron asked.

"Yes, but doing so might damage the mind or memory of the person, and as Rosmerta is a victim herself, they won't do it," Dad said.

"Hey, let's…let's just talk about something else for a moment, okay?" Daphne asked uncomfortably.

The Imperius Curse and memory-modifying magic were the two most terrifying things in magic in her eyes, and she really didn't want to talk about them anymore, not after having gone through the story several times already in the last hour.

Fortunately, her parents and friends agreed, and they spent the afternoon talking about innocent topics that had nothing to do with the war.

By the time they headed back to school for dinner, Daphne felt much better, but at the end of dinner, the prospect of having to go to her own common room, where Malfoy would probably be, wasn't one she liked.

She wasn't afraid of Malfoy, not really, but knowing he was willing to use Unforgivable Curses now made him a more dangerous enemy than he'd been before, and she wasn't sure she wouldn't curse him into oblivion the moment she laid eyes on him, either, which would likely land her in Azkaban for life.

Ginny, who'd also heard the story by now, clearly noticed Daphne's mood worsening as dinner neared its end, and she leaned over to whisper something in Harry's ear.

Harry's eyes widened and he nodded. When they got up from the table a few moments later, he looked at Daphne and said, "Come on."

He led her out of the Great Hall and into an empty corridor, then pulled out his Invisibility Cloak, which, like the two-way mirror, he always had on him these days.

He threw the Cloak over both of them and whispered, "We're going to the Room of Requirement."

Of course! Daphne must've been really out of sorts not to have thought of that for herself, but she felt an immense wave of gratitude for Ginny that she had thought of it.

They snuck up to the seventh floor and entered the Room of Requirement, where they took off the cloak. The Room now looked like a common room for a neutral House, with a fireplace with comfy chairs, some bookcases, and a few tables, but lacking any House colors or banners.

They sat down in a two-seater in front of the fire, and for a while, neither of them spoke.

"Ginny said we should at least finish our date in peace," Harry said after some time.

Daphne chuckled. "That sounds like her. I was wondering why she didn't join us."

"She's going to kill Malfoy the moment she sees him," Harry said.

"Good. Serves him right," Daphne said harshly. "But he's after Dumbledore then…" she mused.

Harry nodded. "I don't know how he expected that package to reach Dumbledore. If whatever was in it was a Dark object, Filch's tools would've picked it up for sure."

He pulled Daphne closer to himself. "But you could've gotten hurt. If something had gone wrong with that package, you could even have died. Dumbledore has to do something, if Malfoy is really behind this."

"I didn't die," Daphne said, turning away from the fire to look at Harry. "A bit traumatized, maybe, but that seems to be a yearly thing by now…"

"The thought that you could have died is what scares me," Harry said.

Daphne nodded wryly. "I know that feeling," she said.

She shifted a bit to lean against Harry more comfortably. Far from the small, skinny boy he'd been when she first met him, he was now much taller than she was, and all his Quidditch and dueling training were even making him a bit muscular. Despite being more than able to take care of herself, she felt safe, sitting there like that.

"I wish we could just…stay here all night," she said softly.

"Well…" Harry said hesitantly. "Why can't we? I mean, only our friends know where we are, and the door is hidden because I told the Room not to appear to anyone else except one of our friends. And…"

He was silent for a moment and looked over at the other end of the room. Daphne followed his gaze and saw that a massive, comfortable bed had appeared.

"This Room can do a lot, it turns out," Harry finished with a smile.

"I wonder if it can create a bathroom," Daphne mused.

Almost immediately, there was a rumble and a door appeared in the wall.

"There's your answer," Harry replied.

"Well, then I'm going to have a shower and then we should probably try and get some sleep," Daphne said.

She got up and headed through the door that had just appeared, to find that the bathroom behind was at least as good as the one in the dorms. Maybe she should spend the rest of the year here. The Room had even, when she thought about it, made her own nightshirt appear once she'd gotten out of the shower.

Not much later she lay in the bed, which was extremely comfortable, and shortly after that, Harry joined her, having gone to take a shower himself once Daphne was done.

Despite the large amounts of space in the bed, Daphne still decided to cuddle up to Harry as if they were in his single bed at the Dursleys'. Through the thin fabric of his pajamas, she could really feel that he was beginning to bulk up ever so slightly. She decided she rather liked it.

Harry had his arms around her and was slowly stroking the base of her neck with the inside of his thumb. In response, she shifted her hand slightly so that her fingers slid in between the buttons of the jacket of Harry's pajamas. Was it the fire, still burning at the other end of the room, that was making things so hot?

She could almost hear Ginny telling her to stop lying to herself. She knew damn well why it was so hot.

"Y'know…" she said softly. "Maybe…it's still a bit early to go to sleep yet…"

She felt and heard Harry's breath hitch.

"Y-yeah, maybe it is," he stammered.

Daphne drew herself up a bit and kissed him, very long and very slowly. "Then let's find a way to spend the time…"

Well, obviously they would, at some point. This seemed a fine moment for it.