Interlude: In Slytherin

"What were you doing with Potter?"

Daphne paused in brushing her hair to check the room's other occupants. They were all dressed, of course, because Blaise was here, but they were also mostly in their nightgowns, which wasn't a state she really cared to be in with Malfoy here. "Good morning to you too, Malfoy. Why yes, I slept quite well, thank you for asking."

Malfoy huffed and rolled his eyes. "Good morning, Greengrass. What were you doing with Potter yesterday? And what was that fire?"

Blaise looked up from where he sat on Tracey's bed, but said nothing. Daphne pulled out a black band and started brushing her hair up into a ponytail. "It was light magic," she replied casually. "Potter discovered his position in society this summer and asked for help learning about pureblood traditions. Blaise and I were teaching him about magical alignments." She examined herself in the mirror, which pointed out a few loose strands and recommended she stick to leaving her hair down in the future. Daphne cast a quick Silencio at it.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Light magic? Even you can come up with a better lie than that. There's no light magic like that."

Tracey snickered, then mumbled an apology at Daphne's glare. It wasn't a very sincere apology though, because she could see the smirk her friend was fighting not to show.

"What's so funny?" Malfoy snapped.

Blaise shrugged. "Just that you think you have the slightest idea what light magic is capable of."

After a moment of staring hard at the other boy, Malfoy turned his attention back to Daphne. "Why would he ask you to teach him?" he asked, rather than pursue the matter of light magic's capabilities. Likely because, when he took the time to stop and think, Malfoy wasn't actually an idiot. He knew full well that he was only versed in dark magic, while Blaise knew a fair amount about both types.

Daphne raised an eyebrow, finally turning to face the boy. "Who else should he have asked? You? The boy who's been antagonizing him nonstop for four years? All because you couldn't be bothered to be polite at your first two meetings?" She smiled thinly at the blotchy red flush that swept across Malfoy's cheeks. "Potter asked me because I'm a neutral, traditional, pureblood Slytherin with a proven track record of being able to act civilly toward people like Granger."

"And why are you teaching that know-it-all?" Malfoy exclaimed, latching onto a different point to avoid facing his own failures.

Daphne sighed. "Even your usual bookends could answer that. Where Potter goes, so do Granger and Weasley. And, recently, so do Weasley's sister and Luna." She rested a hand on her hip impatiently, willing the boy to give up.

An ugly scowl crossed Malfoy's face. "You shouldn't be teaching them. Granger and the Weasleys are just a mudblood and a pack of blood traitors, and Potter gave up all right to our help when he refused my hand on the train."

Now she was getting annoyed. Daphne stepped toward Malfoy, the air becoming stifling as her magic wrested free of her control. "Listen, Malfoy," she sneered. "You have no say over who I do and do not associate with. In case you somehow missed them, Bones and Longbottom were there too. If I don't teach him, they will, but they won't teach him any of the more traditional aspects of our culture. I'm done with letting the Light have everything their way. If their boy saviour wants to learn, I'm going to teach him, and I'm going to make sure I'm right there guiding him when he comes into his own."

With a sniff, Daphne spun around, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "Millie, remove him. I need to finish getting dressed."

Millicent didn't move, because Malfoy had already fled by the time Daphne had finished speaking.

From her corner of the dorm, Pansy bit her lip, looking uncomfortable, before scrambling out of bed and hurrying out after Malfoy. Daphne watched her go. "I don't know what that girl sees in him," she muttered. "Honestly." She shook her head.

Tracey sighed. "Her father wants her to ally herself with him, so what can she do?" She glanced up at Blaise. "Hey, do you know anything about that spell Potter used? Your mum has a collection of old light-magic grimoires, right?"

Blaise nodded slowly. "She does, and I do." He sounded and looked troubled, which made both Daphne and Millicent pay closer attention. "That spell in particular is a strange one for him to know."

"Why?" Millicent asked.

"Because my ancestors created it and shared it with only a select few," the boy replied. "They were quite zealous about keeping track of who knew the magic they'd created, and the only person in recent history to learn it was the Dark Lord, in exchange for my family's continued neutrality."

The three girls were silent as they absorbed this. Tracey was the first to speak. "Do you think Potter's switched sides? I mean, he has been acting really off this year."

Daphne scowled. "You really think the Dark Lord would teach Potter anything?"

Tracey shrugged. "I'm just throwing out an idea. I mean, where else could he have learned it?"

"Clearly, someone in Blaise's family shared the spell and forgot to record it. That's all," Daphne said, ignoring Blaise's indignant denial.

Millicent frowned. "What if… There were people saying that… you know… he claimed he had visions from him. If he was telling the truth, he could have learned it that way."

"That's… possible," Daphne concluded unhappily. "But we don't know one way or another right now. I think it's exceedingly unlikely that Tracey's right, and most likely that I'm right, but… To be safe, we'll simply make sure we are very thoroughly neutral around him. We can wait until we know more to decide if we should open up to him." That decided, she opened her wardrobe and looked toward Blaise and Tracey expectantly.

Getting the hint, Blaise stood. "I'm going to head out," he said. "Theo wanted help with Astronomy." He bent down to give Tracey a quick kiss on the cheek, then disappeared.

Soon after, the three girls left as well and headed to breakfast. As they walked, Daphne kept replaying her interactions with Potter, lips pursed anxiously. He couldn't be working with the Dark Lord, she decided. Everything she'd heard indicated that the Dark Lord had an even worse temper than Potter, so she couldn't imagine the man having the patience to deal with the brat Potter had been last year. What had happened to him then though? She needed to navigate through this correctly. Potter was her only chance right now.

Feeling the familiar feeling of her heart pounding in her chest and her breath coming too quickly, she withdrew a Calming Draught from her bag and downed it with a careful motion that made it seem as though she'd merely yawned. As it began to work, she tuned back into what Tracey and Millicent were saying, joining in with a light laugh and a smile.

AN: I remember thinking way back when that interludes were going to be pretty rare. Umm... oops? apparently not...