Chapter Nineteen: High Society

December 20th

7:42pm

Hogwarts, Scotland

Harry

Harry stared at himself in the mirror only slightly disappointed in the sight before him. He had cleaned up well, the light stubble on his face was evened out and he had found himself an 'acceptable' set of robes to go with his maroon button up and tie. The only problem he had was being unable to tame the mess of hair on his head, no amount of muggle or magical product made his hair cooperate, so he had gone the logical route and decided to cut it down to a much shorter length (think movie six). He missed his longer hair but found that this was much neater and had the added bonus of not having to worry about keeping it out of his eyes or ears.

Satisfied as he was ever going to be, Harry left his room and descended the stairs into the Gryffindor common room. He found Hermione in a pink dress and a book in her hands, sitting on her 'claimed' seat. As he walked over to her, he got a good look at the title, 'Curses and Counter Curses,' by a professor that he couldn't read the name of because of the angle of the book.

"I should've known," he said by way of greeting.

Hermione needn't lift her eyes from the page to respond. "I'm sure this book will be more entertaining than the band of Slughorn sycophants awaiting us at the party," she sniped with an air of accusation.

Harry didn't need to think hard on why her tone was negative, Harry and Daphne's attempts to manipulate Slughorn were still a secret so to the outside world it looked like the pair of them were no better than the others.

'No better than the others indeed,' Harry reflected, 'perhaps there was a time I would have been ashamed to make a man relive his worst memories.'

Instead of arguing the obvious, Harry decided to distract his friend instead which is fairly easy to do when Hermione is involved. "You know," he started coyly, "I hear he invited a vampire."

Hermione made a show of reluctantly pulling her eyes from the book but Harry could see the intrigue in her calculating eyes. "A vampire? In the castle?" Harry nodded and he could already tell Hermione had made up her mind and the final obstacle would be her putting the book down. Hermione huffed and stood from her seat, "I'll be down in a moment." She ignored Harry's victorious expression as she ascended the girls' dormitory stairs.

'Easier than I expected, it makes no real difference to the mission if she attends but I imagine it's better than being cooped up in here reading a minor dark arts book,' he thought to himself. Getting Hermione actively involved in things seemed to bring her out of her depressive and cynical moods and besides, she'd already gotten ready, she may as well go.

Hermione came down the stairs and looked more amicable than before, gone was the slight scowl he had received when he had committed a heinous crime by interrupting her reading.

"How do I look then?" Hermione asked as she checked herself over.

Harry had to admit to himself that she looked quite fantastic in the pale pink dress and much more mature than the Hogwarts uniform that he so frequently saw her in.

'Daphne will probably steal the show in this department though, I wonder how mad she would get if said she was trying too hard.'

A clearing of the throat made him realise his musings came off rude because he ignored the question. "Ah… yes, fanciable enough, looking to charm someone?" He inserted a joke to hopefully kill any insecurity he may have caused by hesitating and it seemed to work as she just shook her head and walked past him but he managed to catch a glimpse of a smile on the way.

He did one final check that he had his mirror, cloak and wand before turning to catching up with Hermione. The clack of her heels on the castle's stone floors was the only source of sound for most of the walk there, being only on the sixth floor, it was a short trip to the corridor of Slughorn's office. As they rounded the corner they were met with Daphne leaning against the wall who noticed them immediately.

Harry's thoughts a few moments ago had come true and if he had been told he was gazing upon royalty he would condemn the person who said so for gross understatement. She had picked another cape gown for the evening but this one was much different from the last. Her dress was a deep maroon this time around, with the cape coming from two points on her shoulders instead of across her entire back. Gold clasps with floral embroidery held the front and back straps of the dress over her shoulders and a decorative golden belt with the same embroidery completed the ensemble. He couldn't see the shoes she had chosen because of the length of the gown but he imagined even if they were the clunkiest abominations on the planet nothing could diminish the sight before him.

An elbow to the ribs broke Harry's stunned stare and he turned to Hermione in agitation. "Harry," she said in a tone of amusement, "are you not going to compliment your date?"

He didn't deign to answer her question for there was no way to do so without embarrassing himself. Instead, he returned his gaze towards Daphne who met it with a raised eyebrow. He gathered his courage and took the initiative, "good evening, Daphne, you look stunning as ever."

Daphne's lip upturned slightly and she pushed herself off of the wall. "Thank you. I like the red, it suits you," she complimented before looking pointedly at Hermione. "My date brings another woman with him? Your ego is as high as Professor Snape suggests," she jested.

Hermione smirked, thinking Harry would flounder at the insinuation but he simply smiled and shot back, "actually you've been replaced."

Without missing a beat Daphne responded by scoffing and said, "please, do you think me daft? Miss Granger wouldn't give you the time of day. I bet you dragged her along with promises of secret knowledge which she still reluctantly accepted."

Harry and Hermione shared a glance before laughing out loud, which confused Daphne as she didn't think it was that good of a comeback. Hermione's giggles finished first and she explained, "you have no idea how right you are, I was curled up on a couch with a book but I wanted to meet the vampire here."

Daphne nodded and said, "yes that does sound much more appealing but as you've realised yourself there is value to these occasions," careful not to reveal their intent. "I'm surprised to see you here alone though, is your date inside already?"

Harry's eyes widened at the question, taken the wrong way it could be highly offensive, and Hermione was notoriously quick to anger. His fears were replaced with anger when she looked more embarrassed than passed off.

"Uh no, I didn't bring anyone to the party," she admitted as she cast her eyes down. "Blaise asked but I declined." Harry knew self-confidence was a well-hidden insecurity of his friend's and he wouldn't tolerate anyone taking advantage of that, not even Daphne.

Just as he was about to speak up in his friend's defence, Daphne replied and completely flipped his perception of the conversation. "That was wise. None of the imbeciles in this castle deserved the honour of being your date anyway."

Hermione looked at Harry, confused, not understanding if it was an insult or compliment and hoping he would know. At his appreciative nod she replied, "thanks." The three of them stood in silence for a moment but Hermione began to feel awkward and excused herself quietly and made for the party down the hall.

Harry noticed movement and watched Daphne take off a golden bracelet and pointing her wand at it. The bracelet morphed into a small, yellow, rectangular box with an accompanying red ribbon. "The present, I take it?" he asked as he held out his hand.

"A yew tobacco pipe, yew being a symbol for longevity and resurrection shouldn't be missed by him," she said as she handed the box to him. "The more he's thinking about that memory the more he's going to feel guilty for not telling anyone."

Harry nodded and pocketed the box, thankful for the fact it was such a small gift. The more Harry thought about their cunning professor the more disturbed he became. For all intents and purposes, Slughorn was a fairly unassuming man just looking to live comfortably. But the knowledge that Slughorn had locked away inside his head suggested a darker side to the portly man. It goes to show you can never truly know someone.

"Give me your arm," Daphne instructed, taking it before he could comply and beginning to drag him towards the party.

"Daphne hold—"

"Shh, trust me, I know what I'm doing," she interrupted. He wasn't going to complain any further, having Daphne on his arm wasn't exactly what he'd call a problem.

By now they had reached the office door and the sound of music was prevalent. A small sign next to the door called on them to knock thrice for invited guests. Harry took a breath and got into the persona he had to project for Slughorn, which mainly meant pretending to be someone who was pleased to attend the party. He raised his free hand and rapped his knuckles against the wooden door three times and waited for something to happen.

The door was ripped open swiftly before he could even get his hand back to his side. He felt Daphne tense beside him as he moved his arm towards his wand in case the whole party was ruse to get him to let his guard down. However, that wasn't the case, for it was not death eaters or dark creatures that had so enthusiastically greeted them, but their smiling potions professor.

"Harry! Daphne! Welcome, welcome, punctual as always," the man vibrantly met them.

"Good evening professor, we'd like to wish you a blessed yule and also thought to show our appreciation for your efforts today," Harry recited as though he were reading a script. It felt dirty to fake such things as though they were his, he hadn't grown up with the traditions nor had he experienced much of this side of the culture. Daphne assured him that had he been raised in the wizarding world by Sirius or Remus it's likely he would know these things but he hadn't so now he had to wrestle with the ethical dilemma.

Nonetheless, he pulled the box from his pocket and handed it to Slughorn who looked at the box with interest. "You practise the traditions?" he asked as he untied the ribbon.

"I'm beginning to understand my place in the wizarding world," Harry answered evasively. Not exactly a lie but certainly not the truth. Slughorn opened the box and gasped softly as he pulled the tobacco pipe out. The stem was masterfully engraved with a diamond snake curling down to the stummel and the lip had a small engraving of Slytherin house.

"The wood is yew, in the spirit of yule, and the snake will move when you're smoking," Daphne explained.

Slughorn inspected the present further with fascination before placing it back in the box and pocketing it. "I shan't show the others for fear of jealousy," he said conspiratorially. When Harry smiled in what he thought was a grateful manner Slughorn threw his arms out to the side and proclaimed, "let's join the party, but first, pictures!"

Harry and Daphne were guided to the middle of the room and directed to face a camera. Slughorn positioned himself next to Harry and leaned in for the photo which came with a bright flash, blinding Harry for a moment. Slughorn patted him on the back and spoke, "I would love to stay and chat but I've got other special guests here tonight so I must bid you farewell for now. Go, mingle, you may find someone worth talking to tonight." Before Harry could reply Slughorn was off, inserting himself in conversations across the room.

"Told you he'd like it," Daphne commented, then took a sip of her wine.

"Where'd you get wine?" Harry asked incredulously. Daphne shrugged and smirked into her glass as he looked around for a pace to get a drink too. He realised that there were more people at this party than he thought would be, with more than enough people standing around exuding self importance. "Recognise anyone here?"

"I imagine that's the vampire," Daphne said, positioning herself between himself and the person in question so that he could look without blatantly staring. Daphne was spot on, the man was abnormally tall and emaciated, as though he hadn't eaten in weeks and Harry caught a glimpse of his fangs as he bit into a pastry.

"He's paler than you," Harry commented idly.

Daphne lifted her eyebrow and innocently asked, "you don't like how I look?"

Harry refocused on her and saw her teasing expression. "I didn't say that."

"Mhmm," she replied before taking a glance around the room, "that man over there, brown hair, he was in the auror command tent on the day of the giant attack."

Harry glanced over and saw a broad shouldered, dark skinned man in deep blue robes nursing a bottle of fire whiskey in the corner of a room. It never failed to amaze him just how observant she was. "He doesn't look like he wants to be here," Harry surmised.

He heard Daphne quietly laugh before she replied, "good, you can bond over that then."

He smiled and turned to make a witty response but she had vanished into the crowd of people and smoke. 'One night of socialising then I can return to the chateau, just one night,' he told himself before making for the auror near the balcony.

He was stopped by a stout, bespeckled old wizard with greying hairs and a curious look on his face. The man extended an arm and spoke, "Eldred Worple, mister Potter, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst Vampires."

Harry put on his best fake smile and took the man's offered hand. "A pleasure to meet you, mister Worple."

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, my boy," he replied genuinely, "why just the other day I was saying to old sluggy, 'where is the biography for Harry Potter for which we've all been waiting?'... But seriously, I would be delighted to write it for you if you could grant me a few four to five hour sessions. Why, we could have it out in a few months, think of all the gold we could make."

'Bloody hell, talk about an ambush,' Harry thought irritably. Despite his irritation, Harry responded in as much of a polite way he could manage, "thank you for the generous offer but I feel a biography at such a young age would be counter intuitive would it not? After all I have many big things planned and it wouldn't be fair to you to give you only half of the story."

He could see the man deflate slightly before bringing it back with the same intensity, "of course! Fear not, I will be following your career closely and when the time is right we can release a best seller across the wizarding world!" The stout man's dramatic proclamation was met with an enabling smile from Harry but before the man could continue his eyes widened at something behind Harry.

Harry sidestepped and turned quickly to try and identify what it was but all he saw were guests at the party mingling. However he saw the stout old man move incredibly fast for someone his size and age across the room with a pasty in hand, towards the vampire he saw before. The vampire, Harry could now see, was looking at a group of fifth year students he vaguely recognised with a hunger in his eyes. Clearly Worple had thoroughly done his research as he shoved the pasty in the vampire's hands and whisper-shouted, "Sanguini! Stay with me, here's a pasty."

To Harry's relief, the vampire lost all interest in the girls and nibbled on the pasty reverently. Harry realised that with Worple gone he could return to his first target who was now looking at him from his place on the wall. He could see the auror's hand up one of his robe sleeves, likely going for his wand in case there was an incident. Harry smirked at this, 'a competent one then, this conversation could actually go well.'

Harry crossed the final few metres separating them and this time he took the initiative to greet the guest before him. "Good evening, Harry Potter," he said as he extended his hand out to shake.

The man placed his bottle on a waiter's platter as they walked past and accepted the handshake, "Halim Shafiq, Senior auror." The man had a strong handshake and sharp eyes, he looked the part of an experienced auror and acted the part which in itself brought a certain amount of respect from Harry for the man. "I saw you and your lady come in, recognised you from the giant attack in October."

Harry's facade cracked slightly at the assumption of Daphne being 'his lady' but he soldiered on for the sake of the mission, "yeah that's how I remembered you too, how do you know professor Slughorn?"

"I was in the Slug Club back in 68' Slughorn thought I'd make a great duellist because of my success in the duelling club," the man explained in a tone that conveyed he was quite bored with the interaction.

Harry figured he had two options; try and make an ally out of the man or leave him be and lose a potential wand. He could hear Daphne's voice in his head 'we chose you to lead us and part of that is making sure you know how to make and keep allies.'

"I saw you go for your wand a minute ago, you've got keen senses," Harry complimented the man, hoping to break the ice further. "A good skill to have in our society's current state."

The man snorted and replied, "true enough." He picked up a glass of some kind of alcohol from a waitress and Harry did the same before the man spoke again, "you've got good reflexes and a good mind for danger, especially for a sixteen year old. If I'm honest, I'd take you or your missus over some of the recruits I've got in my squad."

Harry laughed quietly to himself, not entirely sure how to take that admittance. He took a sip of the drink he'd picked up, finding he disliked the fizzy tasty alcohol and struggled not to make a face. "It comes with practice as I'm sure you'd know, being a senior auror and all."

"Too right," Halim agreed and downed the glass of champagne in his hand, "good chat Potter, I'm leaving this networking cesspool. See you in the field." Without waiting for his reply, Halim put his empty glass on a platter and walked out the front door.

Harry smiled and thought, 'that went well, I think.'

Harry glanced around to look for someone to talk to but was surprised when he felt an arm drape over his shoulder. The culprit, he discovered, was none other than his date who was smirking at him.

"Are you that bad of a conversationalist?" she asked, referring to Shafiq's swift exit.

"No," he replied petulantly and then realising he had taken the bait he hastily continued, "you said it yourself; he didn't want to be here."

Daphne didn't answer right away, instead she looked over at the door thoughtfully, "any potential?"

"I think so," Harry mumbled just loud enough for her to hear. The way she was hanging off him made him almost forget that the whole thing was an act, part of her plan to charm Slughorn even if he didn't fully understand how.

"I'm going to get another glass, do you want something?" she asked, sliding off his shoulder.

Harry remembered the fizzy drink he had with the auror and replied, "no thanks, I think I'll look for–"

"Harry my boy!" he heard from across the room. He supposed Slughorn had made the rounds because he was heading straight towards him with intent. Once the professor was in normal conversation range, he said, "was that Shafiq I saw you chatting with before?"

Harry's eyes tracked the retreating form of Daphne before he replied to Slughorn, not forgetting to appreciate how the v-line on the back of her dress showed off her toned back muscles.

"Uh yes, auror Shafiq and I were part of the response teams for the giant attack you see, so we had actually seen each other before," Harry explained.

Slughorn's eyes lit up and he boisterously replied, "oh my! I had almost forgotten that you and the lovely Miss Greengrass were there that day." Slughorn interrupted himself by hiccupping before continuing, "it's the alcohol you see, makes my memory all fuzzy."

Harry replicated his enabling smile which had a marked effect on Slughorn who loved to see his little collectables getting along. "So, you've got your eyes on becoming an auror then?"

"It's in the cards," he responded, faintly aware of how 'Daphne' he had begun to sound at this party, "I'm just going to focus on the war for now and when it ends… who knows?"

Slughorn's face twisted at the mention of the war before setting back into the jovial persona he had cultivated, "but of course, nasty business this war."

"It'll end eventually though, no one lives forever, not even Voldemort."

Harry didn't dare to look at Slughorn after that comment, it was much too on the nose but he simply couldn't resist snubbing the man. The awkwardness was at its height when Harry saw a sight that gave him an influx of joy. Draco Malfoy was being dragged into the centre of the room by Argus Filch

"Unhand me you cretin!" the young Malfoy demanded as he wrenched himself from the caretaker's grasp.

Filch looked positively gleeful as he spoke, "caught this one skulking about the seventh floor, he claimed he had an invitation to the party but was delayed in attending."

"Alright!" Malfoy interjected, "I wasn't invited, I was trying to crash the party."

If Harry had to guess, Filch had begun salivating, it looked as though Malfoy might be hanging by his thumbs in Filch's office but Slughorn intervened. "It's alright mister Malfoy, it's Christmas. I'll let you off, just this once of course."

Harry watched Malfoy during the interaction and as he began flattering Slughorn. The boy looked tired, dark bags under his eyes that rivalled the vampire's, thin too, as though he'd hardly been eating. Daphne's theory of Draco being involved in some kind of plot had more credibility with each piece of information and even if he didn't have that bias, he'd still think that the gate crashing story was suspicious enough on its own. What enhanced his suspicion the most was Snape's usually imperceptible expression was one of anger and perhaps even a hint of fear.

'There's certainly something going on with Malfoy more serious than I realised, having Blaise tail him during the term may not be enough,' he surmised wearily. He came back to reality and watched an irate Draco and seething Snape make a hasty exit which was the final nail in the coffin. He sought the eyes of the only other person in the room who could've fully understood the significance of that interaction and found her staring back at him with worried eyes. They had both come to the same conclusion, Draco Malfoy had become more of a problem and Snape knew exactly why, which stank of death eater operations.

'And here I was actually starting to enjoy the holidays,' he complained in his head. But as he saw Daphne spin away and engage another group of wizards and witches in conversation, snatching their interest and dazzling her targets, he figured maybe he shouldn't let a Malfoy ruin his evening and simply enjoy the time had tonight to detach from the war. 'Afterall, it is almost Christmas or yule, rather, I think I can afford to relax.'

A/N: We're officially over the halfway mark!

This chapter was so hard and not for the way you may think, I had so much I wanted to include which is new for me. It did happen in the climax of book one but I was able to reliably split that, it didn't feel natural anywhere here to split the party into two parts. There was a Hermione interaction, a little more romance/flirting with Harry and Daphne, an interaction with the vampire and with Draco and Snape. So much!

So what did we end up with? Hermione coming out of her shell some more with Harry keeping an eye on her mental and just being a pal. I toyed with the idea of giving her a date but it felt much too soon after old Ronny boy.

Now I know you might be sick of my shameless plugs but this is a message of appreciation to hidylle on etsy because her handmade dresses were invaluable in the process of picking Daphne's outfit. It took me ages to find what I wanted to use for inspo and after I stumbled upon her etsy I was so thankful.

Daphne being dressed great is another trait inherited from a pureblood mindset, being the best dressed is all her. It felt right to have Harry thinking about her when he thinks about Hermione. We compare, compare, compare everything in our lives and Daphne dominating Harry's 'pretty girl' mindset seemed natural. The little flirting was fun too, it may seem OOC for Harry to be so calm with the flirting but the was I see it they've been bantering for a year now that he feels comfortable with her enough to move towards more flirty bantering.

Much of this chapter was me trying to show Daphne's influence on Harry by readers comparing it to the original. Edward Worple's offer came off the same as the original, rude, presumptuous and greedy and where canon Harry snapped back rudely, our Harry is at a point where he has enough social experience to deflect conversations he has no interest in. The art of saying what people do or don't want to hear in a way that they do seems to be a distinguishing characteristic in high society conversations and tis a skill he has been picking up from Daphne.

Anyway to cap off the rest because I'm sick of typing; new side character, Horace losing his grip and Draco being sus we've got a lot of stuff comin and not all of it is great for the gang.

Hope y'all enjoyed :)

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