The rest of the holiday went smoothly, Harry and Daphne had acted exactly like they always did in public but towards the end of the evening they would escape outside or to the room or requirement for some privacy. Neville who had thought they would spend more time just the two of them was pleasantly surprised to find that they acted the same around him and Tracey who had started to join them at dinner now too. The girl fitted in, providing more comic relief but it was good to have another point of view for their research even if the first few times she'd spent the hour looking at Harry and Daphne and giggling. Meanwhile Daphne was simply happy, she had a boyfriend who didn't treat her like either a china doll or a pureblood trophy, she had sent a letter to her father via Hedwig and he had responded simply saying he trusted her and hoped Harry was good to her, he also explained that he'd started to look into Sirius's trial or lack of which gave the teens more hope. She thought it had helped that Harry has sent along his own letter with hers giving a small explanation about himself along with a few photos that had been taken of them during the Ball and his assurance that he would never treat her as anything less than what she was.
Daphne glanced over at the bent head as he made notes on the magical language book that Remus had got him, they'd visited Hagrid yesterday and he had clumsily made his way around the subject of the second task which he tried to avoid and therefore stared at the lake the whole time before revealing that Mermish was a language that could sound like English. For Daphne though she was far more interested in revelling in her new favourite memory.
Flashback
Harry's hands had settled around her waist as hers linked behind his neck, he was just tall enough that she could her rest her head comfortably on his shoulder, the music was soft and there were only about 12 couples left on the floor.
"Daph?"
"Hmm."
The hands moved to the small of her black and held her just a bit closer.
"Is this okay?"
Daphne stepped closed curled her arms tighter around his neck.
"This is wonderful."
Not another word was spoken but Daphne felt the sigh that he let out and he moved his head down just enough to kiss her neck as they continued to move slowly. Eventually though the music trailed off and the professors started to ask students to clear the hall as the main clock began to strike midnight. The boys walked with them back to the corner and after giving her a small peck on the lips the boys had left as Daphne had been dragged by an exuberant Tracey up to their room giggling madly. She had been kept up for another hour as Tracey had demanded to know all the details before letting her go to sleep.
Flashback ends
Daphne stiffened slightly as she remembered what came next and gave Harry a quick smile as he looked up in concern.
"Skeeter." Daphne's voice was colder than Harry had ever heard and he winced in sympathy as he too thought of the article, grateful that he had sent the letter to Lord Greengrass on the 26th before it had come out.
Boy-Who-Lived and Greengrass Heiress in loving embrace!
By Rita Skeeter
Since the name of the Boy-Who-Lived came out of the Goblet of Fire on Halloween, Mr Potter has become increasingly distant from his closest friends and steadily becoming more familiar with those he used to distrust. This reporter has seen it with her own eyes that Mr Potter has gradually become more infatuated with heiress Daphne Greengrass, daughter of Lord and Lady Greengrass.
The couple have only been friends for a short amount of time and one must wonder at Miss Greengrass's motives. They have been seen side by side and it seems rumours can now be put to rest at the sight of their close dancing at the Yule Ball. Of course Miss Greengrass is no stranger to the spotlight, as heiress to one of the wealthiest families in Wizarding Britain she has been seen at the Ministry ball – three years in a row! Dancing with none another than Malfoy heir, Draco Malfoy although rumours of a betrothal have been rife since their birth it seems Miss Greengrass has set her sights on the Saviour of the Wizarding World instead.
Mr Ronald Weasley, the once best friend of the Boy-Who-Lived says "We have no idea what could be wrong with Harry, he never used to want to hang around with the snakes and now suddenly he's rubbing shoulders with them! What's next, lunch with You-Know-Who?"
Mr Potter is rarely seen at Gryffindor table or common room and if he is it is with Heir Neville Longbottom by his side keeping others away, the House of Brave have repeatedly made attempts to make amends with their hero but all dreams have been dashed with a sneer. Mr Potter despite not appearing consistently in classes also has advanced knowledge on many spells as seen by his corporeal patronus from the first task. Where is the Golden Boy getting this knowledge from? Is he using less than acceptable ways? This reporter also was informed of Mr Potter's experience with Parsletongue; a known dark trait and his ability to complete aggressive spells quickly.
Miss Granger, a muggle born with high ambitions of her own said "Harry has always been accomplished at DADA but I worry. I've read about it in Charms of Defence of Deterrence that the patronus can be a self-reflection of obsessiveness also he's been spending so much time with her and she is certainly capable of brewing Amortentia…"
Could our Saviour be under a spell? Could Heir Longbottom be under an influence too? Has Heir Greengrass got her own motives to being by the Boy-Who-Lived side?
For more on the Greengrass family read page 4
For more about the Longbottom family read page 5
For more on the Parsletongue, advanced magic and the dark arts read pages 7,8 and 9
The article had suddenly caused an influx of publicity for Harry, every morning since howlers and letters of all lengths and meaning had made their way to both him and Daphne. After the very first day when someone had sent an awful howler to Daphne complete with spewing dirt at her the two had brushed up on shield, containment and fire spells and since then no howler had made it through, Neville had also had the genius idea of asking Dobby to screen the trick letters and so far four had been sent to the DMLE as they'd had been filled with bobotuber pus, blood rotting potion, garrotting gas and jaw bind potion. Harry had wondered briefly if perhaps it was worth it until Daphne had made her thoughts well known on that subject and they'd redirected their energies towards happier things.
Daphne found herself busing the training she'd been given of hiding emotions and dealing with things quietly, after the first two days of having whispers and pointed fingers and then a straight up confrontation with Pansy in the common room she had snapped; Professor Snape was called, Pansy spent the night in the hospital wing, word was spread quickly and by the next day no one dared do anything more than breathe in her direction. Luckily for them to be honest as Harry was used to the whispers and having things said about his love life and for the most part could easily brush off the comments that were made but having Daphne effected was a whole other game in his opinion. She'd spent an incredible hour calming him down after breakfast on the second day after Susan Bones has said very loudly as they'd walked past "upstart snakes always slither out of the cracks when something shiny catches their attention." Peeves had also acted more upfront with her than she was used to and she'd had to enlist the Bloody Baron's help in scaring him away after he'd stolen and spilt ink over her homework for transfiguration and care of magical creatures.
"Daph I think I've found it."
"Huh..what?" Was Daphne's intellectual reply as she stared at her boyfriend. Green eyes lightened in amusement.
"The egg, I think I've figured it out."
She immediately pulled her chair closer to his side and they looked over the book that Moony had got for Harry A Guide to Magical Languages and started to read out loud as Neville also leant in closer.
"When underwater it sounds much like English, or perhaps even like any other language however, out of water the language changes to a screeching, harsh and raspy sound." She looked straight into Harry's eyes her own sparkling brightly and threw her arms around his neck squeezing tightly.
"So we need to submerge it, where can we do that exactly? The bathroom sinks aren't big enough, though I suppose we could do it in the lake?" Neville's voice refocused their attention.
Harry laughed and folded his arms under him using one hand to prop his head on as he put on a thoughtful expression.
"I dunno mate, where in a magic castle can we find a room that might have a pool in it for us to use when we need it…"
Neville slapped his forehead as Daphne bit her lip to smother the laughter.
"Man, I'm stupid. Okay, when can we go?"
Just then Tracey plopped down on the seat next to Neville flashing him a grin even as she pulled three textbooks of herbology onto the table.
"I need help from our resident plant expert. Neville, please help me I'm so stuck on this essay!"
"Sure Trace, why don't you two go ahead and tell us about it?"
"You sure? I mean we could wait?" Daphne asked even though she had already started to pack up her things and Harry left to put some books on the shelves under Madam Pince's watchful eyes.
"Nah go for it, you guys haven't had any alone time in 7 hours so you need it."
At the quip Daphne rolled her eyes but was inwardly amazed at the difference a few months and having friends had made to the timid lion's demeanour. The confidence that had grown from being listened to and his opinion had asked had caused Neville to stand up a bit straighter each day, the slightly lost look had disappeared from his eyes and he had even started to answer questions in class. His performance was improving steadily and he grasped concepts quicker now especially as his new wand fitted him much better. Harry is an amazing teacher she thought to herself as the couple started to walk up to the 7th floor in a comfortable silence. He had patiently explained 6 times over the correct way to do the colour changing spell until Neville had finally got it and was ready to go over anything that anyone asked him. She had a sudden vision of him, slightly taller but hair just as messy and eyes just as green but with teaching robes on in front of class. She abruptly shook the image from her head, time for dreaming later she thought as they arrived at the tapestry.
"You okay you seem pretty deep in thought."
"I'm okay just thinking."
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"Huh?"
"It's a muggle saying like your thoughts matter to me so I'll pay for them. I guess the wizard equivalent is a knut for your thoughts."
The door appeared and Harry gestured for her to go first, whatever she was going to say was lost at the room that was created.
"Woah…"
It was a gorgeous bathroom area, spacious with marble pillars and slabs of pale cream on the floor. The pool that appeared was easily 15ft in diameter and was circular in shape, it was already full of clear water.
Harry suddenly winced as he realised, he would have to strip. Daphne seeing the look on his face glanced at the pool confused before flushing deeply as she also realised what they'd have to do, clearly neither of them had thought this through.
"I'll um I'll just stick my head and dry off." Even as he said it, it sounded ridiculous.
Daphne grasped her courage though and blurted out.
"Or we could have a swim." The silence that followed her words seemed to echo around the room as Harry frantically felt his brain analysing what she was saying.
"You mean the two us? Here? Together?" He practically squeaked.
"Yeah, I mean this place is big enough and its been a while since I have and we might as well go all in. Besides the room will probably give swimsuits."
Her confident tone was in total contrast to the blush that had erupted in her cheeks and the avoidance of his eyes.
Harry gulped as visions of Daphne covered in bubbles and little else danced through his mind.
"Right yeah okay better get onto that."
Five minutes later Harry placed the egg close to the bath and slipped in. The water was warm and as Harry thought it would be nice to have bubbles a tap appeared a foot away from him, turning it on a stream of multicoloured bubbles erupted from it and quickly coated the surface of the pool. So absorbed in the pleasure of having bubbles – Aunt Petunia never letting him have bubbles let alone a toy boat - that he completely missed Daphne's nervous entry from the small side room that had been created when she'd asked for a place to change.
Daphne shivered as she stepped out of the side room, she'd seen Harry slip into the pool and she knew the image of his back with shoulder muscles bunching slightly before being covered in water wouldn't leave her mind in a hurry. God bless Quidditch. She crossed her arms over her chest, the suit that the room created was Slytherin green and a simple one piece with an extra piece of fabric that acted like a mini skirt and settled on mid-thigh the hem sat high on her collarbone and yet she still felt like she was revealing more than necessary. She smiled when she realised that Harry hadn't even noticed her presence and was more interested in grabbing at the bubbles that were popping around him.
"Shall I leave you to it then?"
"Well you could or you could joi-"
"Is everything alright?...Harry?"
"Hmm? Erm yeah you're fine, I mean I'm fine I mean everything is great!" At the wicked red streak that blazed over his face and neck Daphne felt her confidence rising and she stepped closer and sat to dangle her legs in before sinking in and letting the bubbles cover her shoulders. Harry was still avoiding her gaze and was moving the bubbles back and forth before settling his hands on the side.
"I think we should attempt to figure out the clue before we start to enjoy ourselves."
Her boyfriend nodded still avoiding looking at her and leaned out slightly to grab the egg leaving Daphne to stare as the water ran off the abs and over the slim hips encased by black trunks, she'd never been a particular fan of sports but decided in that moment that the hours spent training were clearly worth it.
Harry kept his eyes firmly on the golden egg and he dunked it under the water and released the clasp. The two exchanged glances as instead of the shrieking sound a harmonious tune echoed through, slightly warbled by the water. They ducked under and listened to the song.
Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.
Daphne grabbed a pen and notebook and scribbled quickly with Harry ducking back under to fill in the blanks.
"So they've taken something that I miss and I have an hour to get it."
"Sounds fair, trying to gain a treasure is a worthy cause and is seen all the way through history. Any idea what the thing you'll sorely miss is?"
"Not really, I have the photo album, cloak and map. Maybe my firebolt too?"
Daphne thought hard.
"I think maybe it might be something more…If they take your firebolt you'd be upset obviously but if you didn't get it back after an hour would you think about it for the rest of your life?"
"True, maybe the album then. What about where it'll be? Surely I need to go and find it there should be a clue."
"I think we can assume it's the lake, it says 'come seek us where our voices sound' I can't imagine there's many places you can go. And there's a merpeople colony in the middle of the lake."
"Really, since when?"
"Since the time of the founders in 990 A.D it is said that Helga Hufflepuff gave them sanctuary from hunters who wanted their teeth, hair and scales and they've been there ever since. Its all in Hogwarts: A History they're not huge fans of humans but are friendly enough"
"Okay, so I'll an hour to retrieve something I miss from the mer-people who probably won't want me to just arrive in their colony and take something otherwise I lose it forever."
"Pretty much."
"Okay well I think that's enough for today, we've figured out most of it and can get started tomorrow."
Placing the egg on the edge of the pool his hand grazed Daphne's shoulder and arm as it slipped back under the water, he pushed himself backwards at once spluttering apologies and looking everywhere but at her. Daphne felt another flash of anger towards the Dursleys (she knew what the consequences were for him if he dared brush against his uncle by accident) as well as deep affection for Harry, any normal teenage boy probably would have made a lewd comment and pushed himself nearer, but not her Harry. She felt a smirk tug at her lips as she sidled up to him and put her hand on his arm as he turned to stare at her though his eyes flicked down to her chest, back to her eyes and round the room before repeating.
"Harry, it's okay. You can look at me, it makes me feel good."
"You don't mind? I don't want you to feel as though that's why I'm with you."
"I don't mind at all."
She gripped what courage she had left and pulled herself up onto the side leaving her legs dangling in the water. Harry's expression was well worth it, mouth slightly open, eyes running over her body with an appreciative gleam in them she felt strong and confident.
Goddess. He was going out with a goddess he was sure of it. Water ran off creamy skin and dripped into the water. Her hair lay along her collar done and rested against the soft curve of her breast, her swim suit clung to every arc highlighting her waist and slight roundness of her hips. Her eyes were sparkling at him, beckoning him and he turned into her as her hands rested on his shoulders as his rested on her waist.
"You are absolutely gorgeous." He breathed, eyes holding hers before his lips descended and he pulled her a little closer.
They only just made it to the Slytherin common room before curfew, Daphne's lips red and swollen a secretive smile on her face. Harry's hair looked messier than usual and he had smirk that refused to leave though it faded into a warm smile as he watched his girlfriend try to rearrange her blonde locks to cover the marks that her shirt wasn't covering.
"Sit with me tomorrow for breakfast?" Daphne asked as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Of course." He gave her a squeeze before stepping back and watching as she went round the corner.
Neville grinned as Harry flopped down on the armchair opposite him and sat grinning into the fire.
"So you solved the clue?"
"Erm…kinda…they're going to put something I miss in the lake and I have an hour to get it back." At the absentminded way he'd delivered the sentence Neville realised there was no point in discussing anything else and returned to his Potions essay, checking to see if the dreamy expression was still on his friends face every now and then.
An hour later, they were both still in the common room, Neville now finishing up his Charms homework and Harry had settled on writing a letter to Sirius and Remus who'd gone out to join him in Chateaux Black. He and Remus had been exchanging letters and with the assurance that Remus had tried to get into contact with him but been refused each time and that he was scared during his year of teaching, Harry had found it easy to forgive. Now he sent letters to the two of them separately as well as together. This time it was about how Snape still was accusing him of stealing potions ingredients, Remus recommended keeping an eye on the map to see who could have been hanging around there instead but so far it was Slytherins, occasionally Dumbledore and only twice Barty Crouch, probably something to do with the Tournament. Crouch and Moody were seen a lot together though, he and Daphne had gone to see Crouch to ask for some clarification on the rules and had been surprised to find Moody alone when they had been sure Crouch had just been there… Maybe it was a glitch like on muggle technology.
"Harry, can we talk?"
The boys looked over and saw the Weasley twins standing unlike they'd ever seen, hands were held at their sides and they looked serious, solemn and determined. Harry looked at them for a moment before standing, Neville joining him a second later.
"We want to apologise -"
"We should have believed you'd never have put your name in-"
"And we're sorry for all the shit we gave you because of it-
"Our pranks were not cool or fun and they hurt you and we're sorry for that too-"
"we're also sorry for not telling you about the dragons-"
"Charlie wrote to us a couple weeks before and said he was coming down-"
"Something to do with the first task and he'd have presents for the champions-"
"We never told you and you could – "
"Have been seriously hurt because of it."
"We're really sorry, Harry you've been like a little –"
"Brother to us and we treated you worse than we treat Malfoy."
Now they turned to Neville who looked surprised by their address.
"We're also sorry to you-"
"We've never treated you like a lion but someone-"
"Who can be our first test subject, we've treated you badly and we're sorry."
It was a few moments where the fourth year duo sorted through what had been said and they looked to each other before turning to the twins who looked neither hopeful nor despondent but simply calm like they had had a weight lifted.
"Thanks for the apologises, I got why you thought I had cheated but when you carried on refusing to believe me and then the pranks started…it hurt. It'll take a while for me to treat you guys the same but I do forgive you." As Harry spoke the twins nodded but had matching grins on them before they turned to Neville this time with hopeful expressions. He nodded at them and gave a small smile.
"I know I've never been anyone's favourite lion but thank you for apologising, your jokes are awesome but sometimes they do feel a bit more like bullying than pranks. But thanks I forgive you too."
They nodded looking thoughtful but also happy and Fred, Harry thought held out a small box that easily fit into the palm of his hand.
"We made this after the first task and thought you deserved to have the first one that worked perfectly."
Harry took the box and opened it up, in it was tiny figurine of the Hungarian Horntail he watched as it stretched and growled before settling down as a shimmering glowing stag appeared and trotted around the dragon. The stag then disappeared before the motions started again. Harry laughed and thanked the twins warmly, the twins grinned at each other and were about to excuse themselves when Harry remembered the map had been in their possession too.
"Hey guys, when you had the map, did it ever report a different person than who was there?"
"Definitely not-"
"The map never lies. But in truth"
"We only used the map to make sure-"
"We weren't being followed to let us sneak around-"
"We never took the time to properly examine it."
"Okay thanks."
As red-heads headed upstairs to their dormitory and left the two alone.
"What are you thinking?" Neville asked.
"If the map never lies, then something weirder is going on. Crouch is a judge like Bagman and yet he is here as much as the other Headmasters."
"Okay, so we keep an eye on him and decide when we have more information."
Harry grinned at his friend.
"What?"
"Just how different you are. Hermione would have said that he was a judge and well-respected figure in the wizarding world and so he can't be anything bad, but we should tell Professor McGonagall or something. And Ron, well he probably wouldn't have cared to be honest but would have enjoyed sneaking around and made some accusations about Death Eaters etc. I'm really glad it's you."
"Same mate, same."
As they decided to go up to bed Neville suddenly recalled a vital piece of information that he wasn't sure Harry was aware of.
"Hey, Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Just wondered if you and Daphne had spoken about birthdays yet?"
"Err, no not that I can remember…Oh no it wasn't today was it? Or like last week!?" He asked almost in a panic and Neville hastened to reassure him.
"No no, you haven't missed it. Its on the 19th February."
"The 19th…okay, that's alright I can- Oh no!"
"What?" Neville asked urgently, worried at the look on his friends face as Harry turned to face him.
"What am I going to do about Valentine's day?"
Neville's laughter echoed around the room.