Holy crap this fic is popular. I pass out today around 12 pm and wake up 7 hours later to find it jumped a thousand views and 30 favorites in that time frame. You guys rock.

Also, linking my twitch with my FFN was the best decision I ever made. Being able to better interact with you guys, and even take your suggestions for my stories and even just talk writing is really cool, and I'm glad twitch has such a platform to facilitate that. :) Feel free to come hang out guys! I love interacting with my readers. Always have, always will.

Anyways, here's the chapter, so I'll stop being a mushy idiot now. :p

Chapter 4: I like you, i-idiot!

If someone had told Harry that he would end up at the Quidditch World Cup this summer, he would have laughed at them. Mostly because he didn't know that was even a thing until a few days ago. His dogfather had gotten tickets to the game, specifically box seats. Though, Sirius was acting very suspicious, particularly whenever Harry mentioned that they'd have the box to themselves.

Currently, we find our protagonist, his dogfather, and Remus Lupin in Black family home of Gimmauld Place, standing on the couch in their boxers and singing along to songs by the Rolling Stones on Sirius' enchanted record player. Sirius had apparently gotten the thing from Lily as a gift, and it still worked despite his involuntary sightseeing trip to Azkaban. They were enjoying the downtime from responsibilities, since life had been a little hectic. The house itself was a little dreary, though Sirius stated that was a direct byproduct of his relatives being top tier buzzkills. He was rather ambiguous about the idea that they might have eaten cute and small animals just for shock value at parties. It looked like a typical rich families house would: large rooms lined with expensive looking, albeit dark, objects. Despite their best efforts to open up the house and make it look like a real home, there was still dust that seemed to refuse to leave. Sirius jokingly stated this was a curse from his mother, though the sheen of cold sweat on his forehead made it clear he wasn't totally kidding. Harry's room was located on the second floor, and when Sirius had seen how precious little Harry actually owned when he'd unpacked everything, Sirius hugged him and took him on a shopping spree for whatever his heart desired. Now, his room was filled with a lot of books on defensive magic, some texts on Parselmagic, several model kits from a muggle toy store(apparently it was from a robot show that was big in Japan now that was slowly spreading across the globe), a lot of clothes(both muggle and wizarding), a stand for the broom Sirius had bought him last year, and a cat for the house that they'd named Whiskers. They'd gotten the cat so Sirius and Remus wouldn't be so lonely during the school year when Harry was away.

Besides their dancing like loons to music, they'd actually managed to get a muggle TV and VHS set to work, and when he'd discovered how much Harry liked those models, Sirius had gone on a mission with Remus to find a VHS collection for every episode of Gundam he could find, so they could watch it together. Ironically, Sirius had gotten into even more than Harry had(much to Remus' amusement), and they spent a fair bit of time over the summer working on models together in the kitchen, laughing and quoting the show to each other. What had really made Harry happy though, was when Sirius had enchanted the models that he'd built so far to reenact some of the battle from the show. When he had finished, Harry had mistakenly called Sirius 'Dad', and had profusely apologized, right up until Sirius had hugged the boy closely, and told him if that was how he wanted to see him, then he could call him "Dad" anytime he wished. Remus had dryly commented if that meant he had usurped Sirius's original title as the "cool uncle", which had gotten a laugh out of all of them.

It was a nice contrast to Sirius' duties on the Wizengamot. The new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour had started his tenure by ordering the interrogation of Peter Pettigrew in front of the Wizengamot. That had been an earthshattering interrogation. It was revealed the Dark Lord wasn't dead, and that several "reformed" Death Eaters weren't so reformed. Several members of the Wizegamot, such as Lucius Malfoy, had been arrested for possessing the Dark Mark as well as being loyal Death Eaters. Scrimgeour had issued public statements about You-Know-Who being around, and warned citizens to be vigilant, and now was the time for the country to unite under one banner to thwart the Dark Lord once and for all. This had lead to sweeping changings in policy, with the Wizarding government seeing the most sweeping changes and activity it had in 11 years. Minister Scrimgeour had actually met with Dumbledore for recommendations on how to effectively counter You-Know-Who, and the ministry now gave Death Eaters a zero tolerance policy. It was a one way ticket to the Veil. The only one granted amnesty was Severus Snape, who Dumbledore had assured was an inside man. This shocked Harry, but everyone privy to this knowledge was sworn to secrecy in order to protect both Severus and his cover.

For the first time in his life, Harry felt happy with his life outside of magic and school. Living with Sirius and Remus was like a dream come true for Harry. Even Mr. Slither liked the two older men, and Mr. Slither rarely liked anyone. Though he did like Daphne for some reason, which was weird to Harry. One sad fact was how much Mr. Slither liked Hermione, who was terrified of snakes after the incident in second year. If you've never seen a snake pout, it was strangely cute. Yes, life for Harry was looking up with his adoptive father and his cool uncle making up for lost time.

Xxxxxxxxx

The day of the Quidditch World Cup had arrived, and Harry was somewhat apprehensive. Sirius was still being somewhat sketchy whenever the topic of who would be joining them. Harry, Remus, and Sirius were making their way down the dirt path on the grounds surrounding the Cup Stadium. There were many different tents on each side of the path, forming a sea of canvas and nylon filled with the sounds of laughter and excitement that major sporting events could elicit. Harry actually was beginning to feel a bit of excitement him, though he had no clue who was playing in the final. He guessed one was Ireland from the green and white, but he didn't have a clue who the dark green and red was. After walking past the various sports fans and vendors selling merchandise for a few minutes, Sirius brought them to a halt in front of a new looking tent.

"Well, pup, here we are. Why don't you head on in first?" Sirius stated in a kindly voice, though you could detect a bit of anticipation in voice, though Harry wasn't sure why.

As Harry pulled back the curtain, he was greeted with a yell of 'SURPRISE'. Inside, were the several of Weasleys, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, and most surprisingly Daphne Greengrass(who was blushing and staring at the floor). The inside of the tent was set up like a cabin, with cozy furniture, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and two separate rooms with several cots for sleeping. It honestly nicer than the Dursley's house had been, which amused Harry quite a bit.

Harry was slightly floored at the appearance of all his friends, and turning to his godfather, he asked the question on his mind. "Dad, is this why you acted so fishy when I asked who was going to be here?"

Sirius rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and merely nodded. Remus was just dragging a hand down his face in exasperation.

"I told you you should have just told him." Remus admonished lightly, before walking to the back to get a drink. He nodded to Mr. Weasley as he made his way back. Harry made his way towards his friends. Neville was a recent addition to their group, and to be honest, he reminded Harry a lot of himself. He had little confidence, which was why Harry had taken steps to reach out to the shy boy with his friendship. Harry never regretted doing so. He noticed that Daphne kept flitting her eyes to him then back to the floor, and she was hanging back from the group, clearly nervous. She was blushing and fidgeting, but Harry wasn't quite sure why she was here. Did she often make it a habit of visiting people she hates? Harry shook his head, but raised a hand timidly in greeting. She went beet red and slowly raised a hand in greeting back before returning her attention to pretty much anything except him. 'Does she really detest me that much that she can't even stand to look at me? I really need to get that contract dissolved as quickly as I can so she can be happy."

Harry was about to go over and speak to Daphne, but Neville and Ron rushed over to talk his ear off about the World Cup finals. Hermione actually took pity on the girl and went to talk to her, taking care that Harry couldn't hear them by leading them to the girls' room.

xxxxxx

"So...I was very surprised to see you here, Daphne. Harry is under the impression you despise him." Hermione said softly to the girl who she had formed a casual friendship with due to the many shared classes. Daphne actually looked devastated at that information, before she took a seat on the nearby bed and put her head in her hands.

"I...don't hate him at all. I'm just so used to having to dismiss people for trying to cozy up to me to try to use me, or only talk to me for my looks, that I act hostile automatically. I've had to act this way for so long, that I just don't know how to act otherwise." Daphne said, tears welling up in her eyes a bit. Hermione felt her heart go out to the usually spitfire of a girl so vulnerable.

"You love him, don't you?" At Hermione's question, Daphne went red in the face again, and buried her face in a pillow. Hermione didn't really know how to react to that. "I'll interpret that as a yes."

"I don't know how I fell in love with the idiot! It just happened! It's not my fault he gets this adorable content look on his face when he's reading something he finds interesting, or how sweet he looks when he takes a nap under a tree with his pet snake!" Her eyes were brimming with tears. "And he thinks I'm so repulsed by him and the fact we are betrothed! I've had to hold onto that contract so he will still have reasons to talk to me! Do you know what it's like, to be so incapable of conveying your own emotions because you're too proud to admit it?"

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but closed it. Realizing Daphne needed to vent.

"I hate that I love him, because I don't know why he would ever pick me. He was the first boy who ever treated me like I was something other than a high end broodmare for their pureblood babies."

The way Daphne phrased it made Hermione want to laugh, but she knew that wizarding culture was rather regressed in someways in regards to women's roles in society, at least in the pureblood circles. Hermione had to ask the question on her mind, though.

"So why don't you tell him now?" It was a simple question, but it had weight to it. However, instead of causing the other girl to get more upset, Hermione saw a a fire light in the Daphne's eyes, though there was still hesitance.

"I don't know. Why would he even believe me? He thinks I hate him." Daphne spoke softly, her voice conveying all her insecurities.

"Harry...didn't have the best home life growing up." This got Daphne's attention, causing her attention to shift entirely to Hermione. "He's only told me a little, but from everything I've pieced together, it was really bad. How child services weren't called on his relatives, I don't know. But because of this, Harry has difficulties with people in general. You need to know that if you're serious about a relationship with him." Whatever hesitance Daphne had evaporated, and was quickly replaced righteous anger and concern.

"Depending on what they did, I might have to destroy his relatives." It was a simple statement, but it made Hermione respect the blonde girl a lot more. "I'm going to try and close the gap tonight. Somehow."

Hermione admired Daphne a bit more, if only for how determined the girl looked.

Xxxxxxxx

Chaos rang out through the forest, smoke obscuring surroundings. The night had been great right up until some Death Eater's had shown up to try and send a message. Granted, most of them had been taken out by this point due to the vamped up security, but it was still too soon for Harry to let his guard down. So here he was, running through the forest, looking for Hermione and Daphne. He'd been separated from them, and was now rushing to find them before something happened. She might hate him, but Daphne had been friendly and kind to Hermione, and that meant a lot to Harry. The shadows causes by the firelight made the overall darkness seem more encroaching than normal, a feeling of dread gripping at Harry's heels. He had to find them. He WOULD find them, regardless of how many roots he tripped over. He was about to change direction when he heard Daphne's voice.

"STAY AWAY FROM US!" Her voice was shrill with fear, echoing in the darkness. Harry rushed frantically towards it, desperate to save his friends. Coming up to where the voice had originated, he saw three hooded figures surrounding Hermione and Daphne, with Hermione bleeding from her head and unconscious, while Daphne had her wand trained on the figures. This made them laugh.

"Oh, come now. You're a pureblood and defending a mudblood? Disappointing." The first figure spoke.

"Just relax, blood traitor. You might even enjoy it. Same with the mudblood whore." Came the second figure's voice. At this statement, Daphne's eyes widened in fear, and she looked like she was verging on a panic attack. The third figure didn't say anything, merely flourished his wand. Harry went into hyper focus, looking around for something to given him a tactical edge. He spotted a large log, and immediately formed a plan. Quickly as he could, he banished the log towards the Death Eaters, and before it landed, hit the log with a blasting hex, but not before crying out "Daphne, get down!"

She threw up a shield, right as the splinters riddled the Death Eaters. Not one to rest idly, Harry rushed down into the clearing and threw stunners towards the now severely injured Death Eaters. With them out of the way, he rushed over to the girls, concern clear on his face.

"Daphne, are you ok-MMPH!" She cut him off by slamming her lips against his, his eyes going wide and feeling more confused than he ever had before. He felt her tears running down her cheeks as she kissed him, her desperation and relief tangible. After a minute or so, she pulled away. Realizing what she had done, she fell to her knees, burying her face in them. Harry first took a moment to send red sparks up in the air to get help from the Aurors in the area. Having done this, he quickly transfigured some ropes and ensured the death eaters were tightly bound, placing their wands in his pocket.

Knowing his friends and himself were now safe for the moment, he went over to Hermione to check on her. Satisfied that she was breathing okay, he transfigured a pillow for her, and placed it under her head, before moving over to check on Daphne.

"G' 'way." Daphne's muffled voice caught his attention before he could say anything.

"Daphne, are we going to talk about why you kissed me?" At the question, she seemed to shrink even further.

"I want to crawl in a whole and die. I kissed you before I told you I love you. What kind of confession is that?" She lifted her head enough so she wasn't muffled, but not enough to see her face.

"I don't know, a pragmatic one?" Harry tried to supply helpfully, his mind whirling from the revelation that the girl he thought hated him was actually in love with him. She laughed bitterly and without humor.

"Yeah, but what does it matter? You hate me." Her voice was heartbreakingly depressed. "I had this idea of how I'd tell you, despite how dishonest I usually am with how I feel."

"How long have you felt this way, Daphne?" His voice was soft and empathetic, trying to coax as much from her as he could so she wouldn't clam up.

"...End of first year..." Came her quiet response, the apprehension palpable in her voice, along with fear of impending rejection.

"What started it, if you don't mind me asking?" Harry asked curiously, wondering what he could have possibly done to earn her affection.

"You were the first boy to not treat me like some kind of trophy to be earned or only show interest because my family has money." She had slowly raised her head, allowing him to see her pretty blue eyes, and despite the dirt on her face and hair, Harry couldn't help but notice how beautiful Daphne was. Though, she started to blush a bit. "Plus, my parents always told me I was going to marry you, and while I was worried you'd be arrogant from your fame, my parents told me how kind your parents were. So I figured that we could make it work."

"Then why did you act like you hated me and couldn't stand to be around me?" Harry couldn't help but ask her, his desire to know what prompted her confusing behavior. She let out a bitter laugh in response.

"Because it's hard for me to be even be honest with myself, let alone you." He could tell she was about to cry again, so he knelt down and wrapped her in a hug. Daphne froze up, her steely blue orbs meeting his bright green ones.

"I'm sorry, Daphne. I'll try to be more cognizant of your feelings from now on, okay?" She didn't say anything, but she wrapped her arms around him and snuggled into his shoulder. "I can't say I love you back yet, because I had no idea you felt that way...but I'd like to give it a shot, okay?" He didn't know what compelled him, but he kissed the top of her head after he said that. She immediately pulled away before using her wand to transfigure a pillow, which she then proceeded to squeal into, before resuming her hugging him. He really did not know how to handle this girl at all.

Xxxxxxx

A lot had happened in the first term of the year. Harry had been involuntarily entered into the Triwizard Tournament, found out the Mad Eye Moody at the school was an imposter because of the Marauder's Map the Weasley twins had given him, tagged along with Dumbledore to capture said imposter, witnessed the interrogation of aforementioned imposter, and heard about Dumbledore going to where the weakened Darklord was, and had...dealt with him. Apparently the Dark Lord had begged for death, due to not being able to stand the positive emotions he apparently received from Harry. According to Dumbledore, the man had even told the headmaster where he had a bunch of artifacts that made him immortal on the promise that he "would make the fluffy mush stop". Dumbledore had found the whole situation amusing more than anything else, and had chuckled to himself as he quietly destroyed the tools of the Dark Lord.

He'd also spent a fair amount of time with Daphne, choosing to spend large amounts of time with her on Hogsmeade weekends, and they were considered to be the odd couple of the school. With her excitedly leading him places and simultaneously freaking out whenever he said something that made her happy. She also called him stupid a lot, but it always seemed to be a term of endearment. Currently, it was fifteen minutes before the Yule Ball, and he was waiting for Daphne outside the entrance to the Slytherin Common room. She'd been very adamant about being seen on his arm the entire evening, and them enjoying a nice walk to the ballroom. He was currently leaning against the corridor wall, and looking rather fashionable in his dress robes. Mr. Slither's had been adamant that he attend the ball as well as an "accessory", meaning he was draped over Harry's shoulders looking quite cozy and warm.

"Ten bucksss sssayss you sstutter when you sssee her." Mr. Slither's spoke lazily, one eye open looking at Harry. Harry went red in the face, before he cast his gaze at his reptilian friend.

"Sshut up. You don't know that!" He hissed back in Parseltongue, scaring some of the other strudents who'd traveled to the dungeons to pick up their dates. Harry also spotted Neville, who was apparently attending with Daphne's friend Lisa Turpin. The auburn haired girl apparently had a huge crush on the awkward Gryffindor boy, something that amused them both greatly. From what Harry could see, the girl practically had hearts for eyes when she looked at Neville, nuzzling his arm with her cheek. Hermione had actually mentioned he was going with Viktor Krum, who she apparently had gotten close too. Ron was going with a Ravenclaw named Su Li, who he had met through tutoring that Hermione had arranged. Harry was happy for his friends. As he was about to check the time again, he heard an feminine cough from behind his back, prompting him to turn around. He inhaled sharply at the sight before him. Daphne was wearing a deep green dress that hugged her figure perfecting, with a silver shawl draped over her shoulders elegantly, and her blonde hair tied into a pony tail that was hanging off her right shoulder. Her eyes were alight with curiosity, wondering what he had been about to do with his wand.

"Harry? What's wrong?" Her voice had a slight note of concern in it.

"You look...beautiful, Daphne. Breathtakingly so, in fact." There was a moment of pause, before what Harry had said sunk in, with Daphne's face slowly going nuclear red. The girl pulled her wand out from...somewhere, and cast a silencing charm on her self, before she soundlessly squealed in her hands. After a moment, she canceled the spell.

"T-thank you, Harry. You look nice as well, for an shaggy barbarian" He had learned to accept her barbs, knowing she didn't mean them. He found her tendency to insult people rather endearing. Shaking his head, he offered her his hand. She took it a step further, and took his whole arm, placing it between her rather robust...assets. This naturally made him blush, and her to be not so secretly delighted.

"Let's go have a nice evening, shall we?" She said with a gentle smile, which he still wasn't used to seeing on her face. However, every time he saw it, he fell a little bit harder for her.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The evening had been wonderful. All his friends had successful dates. One of the highlights of the evening had been watching Fleur Delacour set Roger Davies' pants on fire when he got too handsy, before she'd slapped him and strutted back to the Beuaxbatons carriage. Currently, Harry and Daphne were slow dancing on the floor, being one of the last couples to be there. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and she let out a content sigh.

"Curls, I don't want the night to end." She gently laid a kiss next to where her head was laying.

"I suppose I could find a time turner, and we could prolong it another few hours, Cinderella." He joked, which caused her to look up at him, half annoyed and half intrigued by the notion. She seemed to be a little confused by his nickname he'd called her.

"Cinderella?" Her head was tilted slightly in confusion.

"It's because you look like a fairytale princess and we are at a ball." She closed her eyes, but didn't freak out like she normally would have.

"There you go again. Saying such foolish things. Making me love you a little more each time." She was about to put her head back on his shoulder, but he stopped her. He laid a hand gently on the side of her face, gently rubbing her cheek with his thumb, causing her to look up at him with her blue eyes.

"Daphne...I love you." It was the first time he'd said it to her, mostly because it had never seemed like just the right moment to do so. She'd known he did, given how he showed it through his actions. Her eyes went wide at his simple declaration. She leaned into his hand, and closed her eyes, kissing the palm of his hand.

"I love you too, my beloved. So very much." She felt him pull her towards him, and their lips gently met, and despite the fact they weren't the only ones in the ballroom, it felt like they were, and it was the happiest moment of Daphne's life.

Xxxxxxx

To be continued...

Another chapter, though I'll probably not keep up this pace for long. I've been wanting to get back to streaming regularly, and while this story is a nice break from Crazy Life, I don't want to get burned out, even though this is only going to be a relatively short fic.

Whatever the case is, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. :)

Raizen out!