Chapter Ten: Healing in Hospital

"Sit."

The instruction was followed in seconds. Daphne, in her five years at Hogwarts, had never seen the inside of Professor Snape's office but it was exactly what she expected. Jars full of curious things, potions, ingredients and barely enough light to see in front of her, let alone look at the bat-like Professor who was looming above her. She imagined this scared many of the younger students, but to Daphne he simply looked like a wannabe Dementor.

"Would I be right in thinking," Snape said with his usual snide tone, dark eyes burrowing into Daphne's. "That you were on your way to see Harry Potter in the Hospital Wing?"

"Sir?"

"I will take that as a yes," he said sourly. "And would I also be right in thinking that you and Miss Davis have taken it upon yourselves to explore some inter-house fraternisation with Mr Potter and his… friends?"

"Sir." It was a useful tactic, Daphne had learned when dealing with her mother. Yes, okay, nods, they were all passive commas in the larger conversation. Punctuation that allowed the person doing the talking to carry on without really revealing anything of what she was actually doing or thinking. Snape's eyes continued to bore into hers. A distant bell was going off in her mind, something she remembered from a book but couldn't quite place.

Eye contact is essential… The devious bastard. She instantly lowered her gaze, looking at her robes, pretending to be too ashamed to look at the Head of Slytherin house. Eye contact. Legilimency relied on eye contact. Knowing Snape he'd have no qualms casting it on a student, if he was happy to bully them in his class. He'd probably just cast the spell on them non-verbally.

"And you are aware of the consequences these actions will have?"

"Yes, sir."

"Really? And would those consequences, perhaps, include Mister Malfoy ending up in the Hospital Wing the day he is due to be involved in a Quidditch match and Miss Davis takes his place?"

"No, sir."

"I see," he said, just as passively. He paused for a moment, and Daphne used to the opportunity to glance at Astoria, she too was avoiding Snape's gaze but out of genuine fear. Astoria, unlike Daphne, was still scared of teachers. "Potter and his friends are arrogant, lazy, ignorant troublemakers. You would do well to avoid them in future, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"You are, of course, able to choose your own friends. But Slytherin house has stood apart for centuries, and will stand apart for centuries more. You would do well to follow this example."

"Sir."

"I did not hear a 'yes', Miss Greengrass."

"Yes, sir," Daphne agreed, to the second point, not the first. But he didn't need to know that.

"But, Professor, why shouldn't Daphne talk to them?" Astoria chimed in, looking confused. "They're just people, Professor, like us."

For the first time, Snape turned his gaze from Daphne to Astoria, who was looking inquisitively into his dark eyes. He paused for a moment before pulling his cloak somehow closer around his narrow frame.

"While enlightened, it is a sad truth that not everyone shares your naivety, Miss Greengrass."

"But Harry's getting on with Daph, and he hates Slytherins, Professor."

Snape's jaw clenched. "Potter's actions are irritatingly singular and unpredictable. Whatever relationship he and your sister have fostered is likely to be the exception, rather than the rule. We in Slytherin house have relied on each other for companionship as the rest of this school deems us to be beneath them."

"So surely it's good what Daph's doing? It shows people what we can actually do."

"These are delicate times," Snape said carefully, "and it is certainly not advisable to associate with Harry Potter. Unless you wish to find yourself in detention with Dolores Umbridge, or worse expelled."

He knew. The DA was blatantly flouting several of Umbridge's decrees, one of which stated quite clearly that any students involved in groups, clubs, or a meeting of more than 3 people that had not been agreed by the High Inquisitor would be expelled. How the hell did he know? No-one had triggered Granger's parchment, so it wasn't that and Snape was the last person to hear gossip from the students. Something wasn't right at all.

"Of course, sir. We understand." Daphne said, cutting across Astoria. "I'll be sure to be more considerate of my options in future."

He nodded curtly, satisfied. In his very odd, overly patronising and hostile way, she suspected that Snape was actually trying to look out for her. The Greengrass family associating with Harry would be an incredibly strange move, especially given Melissa Greengrass' position in the Wizengamot. Her daughters being pally with Harry when she was so close to Umbridge would be unforgivable and past that if Death Eaters were going to be doing the rounds, it wouldn be sooner rather than later that they knocked on her door.

"And if you have any information on Mister Malfoy's illness, I expect you to report it to me at once."

"Yes, sir. Of course."

Daphne had never been more grateful for Harry not sharing with her the details of Fred and George's plan, for fear that if she had known that it would be written all over her face for Snape to see.

"Very well, that will be all, you are dismissed." Snape said, waving them towards the door. "And Miss Greengrass, do provide Miss Davis my congratulations for her performance today. I expect her to put the same dedication in her next training session."

"What? I mean, sorry Professor?" Daphne asked, baffled.

"She will be joining the Slytherin team for all future sessions as their official substitute. I will be informing Mister Montague of the change personally this afternoon."

He did not bother waiting for her reply, but instead sat at his desk and pulled a stack of parchment towards him. Slowly he dipped a quill in an inkwell and crossed out an error on the first page, before withdrawing his wand and flicking it at the door behind Daphne causing it to open. She did not wait for a second hint and followed her sister out with a calm, but quick, walk until they were well away from his office.

"Well that was… weird."

"You're telling me." Daphne breathed, her mind racing as she processed everything that had just happened. A lot of things didn't add up. Starting with the DA and ending with his promotion of Tracey to the Quidditch team. He'd never shown her any preferential treatment before, so why now? Unless he was hoping they'd push her away from Harry by being too busy. Plus, did he know what they were up to? He had to. Or worse expelled.

"You're still seeing Harry, right?"

"Obviously," Daphne said curtly as they crossed the Entrance Hall and headed towards the staircases and the Hospital Wing. She did not mean to take her frustrations out on Astoria, but she was not one to be told what to do. Especially by Snape. "Snape has a point though. Mum won't like it and I'm sure Lucius Malfoy's friends won't be thrilled either. You're probably best out of this one, Tori."

"And miss finding out what you've been up to for the last month? Please."

"I'm serious, Tori. What we're doing is fun, it's fine, but it won't be at some point. Mum'll hate me for it, I don't want that for you too."

Astoria fell silent and Daphne was glad she didn't try to push her. Her mind was reeling enough from their meeting with Snape and the fact she had just seen one of her closest friends break his arm. It was definitely not an optimal day, that was for sure.

"Tracey was good," Astoria commented, clearly looking for a change of subject. "Better than good actually. Shame she was up against Potter really, she'd have trounced Chang. Apparently she's been awful in training."

"How is it you hear everything anyone is talking about?" Daphne asked, whilst tucking away that little tidbit of information for later.

"Guess I just have one of those faces," Astoria smirked. "I do feel bad for Chang though. Can't have been easy losing Diggory like that."

"No, it wasn't." Daphne agreed, knowing all too well exactly how Chang would have been feeling. "I didn't see her at the game, her friend was there. That Marietta girl."

"The one who's been spreading rumours about you?" Daphne nodded as they turned into the corridor leading to the Hospital Wing. "Yeah. Apparently her and Chang had a big bust up over Harry. She said Marietta didn't know what she was talking about and screamed in her face in their Common Room according to my friend Penelope. I reckon she's jealous."

"Let me get this straight, she started spreading a rumour about me dating Harry with her friend and now she's scared she's actually right?" Daphne knew that Cho had only spread the rumour in a bid to get the Slytherins to hate her, probably in a bid to make her life miserable for ruining her chances of getting into the DA. Not that Daphne had, but Marietta had probably pulled the them or me card, like all good bitchy friends did.

"Apparently," Astoria confirmed, "which, of course, made people think you really are dating so Chang kind of jinxed herself on that one."

"Do people really have nothing else to talk about?" Daphne asked exasperatedly.

"He's Harry Potter, everything he does is worth talking about, whether people like him or not. Plus it's juicy, isn't it? Potter with a Slytherin, people love stuff like that. Forbidden love and all that."

"People need to get out more." Daphne said bitterly. "Look, do me a favour, keep an eye out for me, alright? Just let me know what people are saying about me and Harry. I'd rather know, you know?"

"Finally. I thought you'd never ask," Astoria grinned, "although, is it true?"

"No, we're just friends."

"Funny, cause I've never seen you react like that and I fell out of a tree when I was five."

"You were fine."

"I broke my leg."

"And then you were fine," Daphne countered, not liking this particular line of questioning. "That healer fixed it in about a minute flat."

"Not the point and you know it."

"Look, nothing's happening, just drop it. Okay?"

"If you say so," Astoria said in a sing-song voice, beaming at her sister, as she pushed open the Hospital Wing doors.

The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team, plus Tracey and Hermione, were gathered around a bed which was presumably Harry's at the far end of the ward. Madam Pomfrey was bustling around, gathering potions and a sling before shooing everyone to one side. Harry was looking groggy, but his eyes were open and he was startled as the matron hurried towards him. His arm still shot out at an odd angle, but someone had covered it with one of the blankets. Daphne couldn't stop the relieved smile that spread across her face.

"You're lucky, Potter." she said brusquely. "It's a clean break and the concussion is only mild, take this and that'll clear that up. And take this one of the pain, it should dull it for a few hours. If it gets too bad you can come back and get some more." She set down the potions on his bedside cabinet before withdrawing her wand and giving it a quick wave. There was a loud crack, followed by a yelp of surprise mingled with pain as Harry's arm magically snapped back together.

"That should deal with the arm," Pomfrey said, unphased. "Don't look at me like that, Potter. It's a darn sight better than the last time I had you in here after a Quidditch game. Now, wear this for the next few days until the bones set properly and you'll be fine."

She thrust the sling at him and retreated to her office.

"Want a hand with that?" Tracey asked, before adding hastily, "not a hand. Help. Do you want help with that?"

"Yeah, please." Harry nodded gratefully.

"I can't believe that Crabbe," Angelina said furiously. "Hitting you after the whistle had gone, Pomfrey's right, you were lucky. It could've been a lot worse."

"But I'm fine, seriously." Harry assured her, trying not to wince as he and Tracey did their best to get his arm into the sling. After a complicated movement, she tied the knot around his neck. "See, good as new."

"Want us to jinx him, Harry?" Fred asked, evilly.

"Or we could slip him something, we've got a load of new products to test." George added.

"The last thing you two need to do is get yourselves in trouble," Hermione scolded from her position by the bed. "With Umbridge or your mother."

For whatever reason, mention of Mrs Weasley seemed to stop the twins in their tracks. It was like watching someone let slip You Know Who's name, only she doubted even that would scare the twins as much as the mention of their mother.

"You can add Snape to that list," Astoria said, by way of announcing herself. The team turned, startled as they had been too focused on Harry to notice that either girl had entered the room. Most of them relaxed when they saw Daphne, and Tracey practically beamed with relief. Angelina, however, looked warily at Astoria who gave the girl her most polite smile. "Hi, Astoria Greengrass. Lovely to meet you all. Loving the sling, Harry. Very cool. You'll have all the girls lining up to ask you out if you keep it on."

Daphne rolled her eyes. Astoria was the typical pureblood woman her mother had raised her to be. Charming, disarming and charismatic with even the most challenging of audiences. Everything Daphne knew she wasn't. The entire team was taken aback by the whirlwind of information and Astoria's effortless ease, especially as the younger Greengrass sister took a seat at the end of Harry's bed.

Ron was the first to speak, processing what Astoria had just said. "Snape?"

"He just ambushed me and my dear sister on our way here. It appears your friendship upsets him somewhat. He seems to think it'll be bad for either of us to be talking to you."

"Charming," Harry muttered darkly.

"Not just you, Harry. Though, I think you are his main problem. Oh and he seems to think you lot had something to do with Draco being ill," she eyed the twins, who were doing a brilliant impression of the synchronised ceiling observation team. "So I'd say lay off Crabbe, if I were you."

"Us?" The twins asked in mock innocence that fooled literally no-one.

"We've never hurt anyone, have we, Fred?"

"Never been known, George."

"Even so, best avoid that one," Astoria said happily. "And now that we both know that you're safe, I think I'd best get going. See you later, Daph."

And with that, Astoria offered them all a small wave and headed for the exit. Everyone stared after her, either shocked or struggling to keep up with what had just happened. Daphne took this chance to get closer to the bed.

Angelina was the first to recover. "Is she always like that?"

"Yeah, that's Tori."

The Quidditch captain shook her head, before saying "we'd better get going too, Harry."

"Yeah, got some exam stuff to do," Alicia scouled. "Flitwick's given us a footlong essay for Monday."

"And we've got a party to organise," Fred said, "can't have that lot trying to sort out a celebration by themselves. It'll be awful."

"Who would even do it, Lee?" George asked as they joined Angelina and Alicia in their track to the exit. "Merlin, not worth thinking about."

Katie made her excuses too and left, leaving only Ron, Hermione, Tracey and Daphne to take up spots at Harry's bedside.

"You alright?" Daphne asked, with the room suddenly a lot emptier she let the concern that had been wrapping around her heart show on her face for the first time since she had seen him crash into the ground.

"Fine," Harry said, nodding. "It was just a break, nothing huge. Besides, I've had way worse than this."

"You know that that's less comforting, right?" Before she had become friends with him, she had known something of his 'extracurricular' activities and not really thought anything of it. Now, well, now she was a lot more worried.

"I'll be okay," he grinned. The grin vanished as he looked at the potions Pomfrey had set out for him. Anything from the school matron never tasted nice. Or even okay. After a particularly disgusting illness, Daphne had forced herself to the Hospital Wing in her third year. After taking whatever it was Madam Pomfrey stuck under her nose, she had long suspected that she would have preferred the vomiting.

"Did Snape really corner you?" Ron asked, propping his feet up on the portion of bed only taken up by blankets where Astoria had sat and leaning back on his chair. Hermione gave him an exasperated look of the kind that only she was able to give.

"Yep. He thinks that me spending time with you will be bad for my family's reputation, either because you're a raving lunatic or because the families my mother chooses to associate with aren't exactly fun people."

"And does that bother you?" Harry asked, a little bit more nervously than Daphne had been expecting.

"Do you think I'd be here if it did?" Daphne pointed out. "Trust me, Harry, I've known what I was doing since I went to the Hog's Head. But that wasn't the weird bit, I think Snape knows about the DA."

She didn't know what she had expected, shock perhaps, outrage, indignation, even surprise. What she was instead treated to was a shared look of knowing resignation between the three Gryffindors, who then looked rather sheepish as if they had been caught in a lie under Daphne's quizzical eye.

"I'm guessing that's not news to you," she didn't ask. It was a statement. Not a question.

Both Ron and Hermione said nothing, instead looking for leadership from Harry who looked like the embodiment of someone sat on the fence.

"Is he going to tell Umbridge?" Tracey asked, worriedly.

"No," Harry blurted out quickly, "no, it's nothing like that. Dumbledore knows, someone who was in the pub told him, and he trusts Snape. I guess he must've just told him."

"And that's it?" Daphne pressed. Once again there was the smallest of glances to Harry from Ron, Hermione however was resolutely looking anywhere but at the Boy Who Lived.

"Well, no, there's this thing called the —"

"Harry!" scolded Hermione, "you mustn't, Dumbledore said —"

"They should know what they're getting into, Hermione." Harry protested. "Let's face it, hanging round with us they're going to eventually. Malfoy'll see to that."

"Yeah, c'mon Hermione, it's not like we can't trust them." Ron added, his chair hitting the stone floor with a loud thunk and he swung his feet from the bed.

"But it's not our secret."

"If it's not Harry's then whose is it?" Ron asked, inquisitively.

"Dumbledore's." Hermione said flatly.

"Dumbledore always told me to trust my friends," Harry said simply. "He said it was the one thing I had that Voldemort," Tracey shook so violently that she nearly knocked over the potions sitting on Harry's bedside, "doesn't have. They trusted us, it's only fair."

The 'they' in that sentence, Daphne suspected, was less aimed at Tracey and more at the conversation she and Harry had had regarding her father. Hermione was glaring at her two best friends, as if trying to win some kind of silent battle but when neither relented she sighted.

"Fine," she huffed, bad-temperedly. "Fine. But not here."

The here they agreed on was, inevitably, the Room of Requirement. So once Harry had downed his medicine, with much moaning and spluttering, Daphne and the others headed to the seventh floor in awkward silence. Hermione still clearly did not want to share whatever information Daphne had accidentally stumbled upon and Ron and Harry did not want to risk being shouted at anymore than they were likely to be.

Daphne and Tracy walked behind them, Tracey sent Daphne a confused look but Daphne just shrugged her mind racing. What could it be? She had a funny feeling she suspected, there was only one reason she could think of that Dumbledore would rely on an ex-Death Eater. Everyone knew that Voldemort feared Dumbledore the most, and it made sense that if he was back that Dumbledore would be leading some form of defence, which in turn meant that anyone he recruited would be guarding Harry with their lives.

That, she supposed, would explain why he had had someone in the Hog's Head to tell him what had happened. She wondered if other teachers were involved, McGonagall surely would be. She was Deputy Headmistress and revered Dumbledore, after all. Would Flitwick know? He was an ex-duelling champion. What about Sprout, Hagrid and any of the other professors, would they be in on it too?

Sprout, no, but Hagrid, well, he still hadn't returned from the leave of absence he had been on since the start of term. Could that have something to do with Dumbledore too? All of these questions fired round Daphne's head faster than the Snitch Harry had caught that morning. It felt like a lifetime since the match now. A distant memory.

The room chose, this time, to appear like a common room. There was a roaring fireplace, plush sofas and an armchair all crowded round a small coffee table. Harry took the armchair, with Hermione and Ron on one side and Tracey and Daphne taking the other.

"So," Harry began awkwardly, when nobody else looked like speaking. "Snape."

"Dumbledore's forming some kind of army or something, isn't he?" Daphne asked, quickly.

"How did you…"

"It's the only thing that makes any sense," Daphne shrugged. "If this is Dumbledore's secret, the only thing he cares about is taking down You Know Who, and if he's telling Snape stuff about you it's probably to protect you. Snape's not going to be the only person either, because let's face it, why have Snape be your number one bodyguard when you can't stand each other. Are you part of it? Whatever it is called?"

"No, we're not allowed. It's adults only."

"Is anyone we know a member?" Tracey asked, excitedly.

"Er…"

"You don't have to answer that, Harry." Hermione said, a little hotly, not that Daphne could blame her. Trust wasn't easy to earn, and as far as Hermione was concerned they were still Slytherins. She liked them well enough, but they hadn't really become good friends.

"Is your godfather a member?" Daphne asked, remembering that Harry had said that was who had warned her about him. At the mention of this mystery godfather Hermione's eyebrow disappeared into her hairline.

"You told her about Sirius?" Ron asked, looking stunned. Harry sagged into his armchair.

"Sirius?" Daphne and Tracey repeated in unison, before Daphne added. "Not Sirius Black?"

"Thanks a bunch, mate." Harry breathed.

"What? She said —"

"Godfather, he didn't tell me who it was." Daphne said quietly. How on earth was Harry talking to Sirius Black, why was he talking to him? The man was responsible for Voldemort finding his parents and had killed Peter Pettigrew and all those muggles. Harry knew that, everyone knew that. Rich, coming from him, to not trust her. Why trust him? He was a mass murderer, he'd escaped from Azkaban with the sole objective of killing Harry. But the more she stared into Harry's sour face, the more none of these facts added up. Why talk to him?

"It's not what you think, he didn't kill anyone." Harry said, still sagged in his chair and glaring at Ron who had the decency to look sheepish.

"Funny, he killed thirteen people the last I heard." Tracey countered.

"It wasn't Sirius," Harry told them, "it was Peter Pettigrew."

Daphne shook her head. "Pettigrew's dead, Black killed him."

"No, he didn't. I saw him. Look, he killed those muggles, not Sirius. He's the one that gave my mum and dad up to Voldemort. Sirius was trying to capture him when he blew up that street. It's why they never found any of his body. Sirius only broke out of Azkaban because he knew where he was. He saw a picture of him in the Prophet."

"You know how mad this sounds, right?"

"It's true," Ron interjected, "Pettigrew was my rat, Scabbers. That's what Sirius saw in the Prophet, Pettigrew's an animagus."

"All they found of Pettigrew was his finger. He cut it off when Sirius cornered him, the Ministry put two and two together and carted Sirius off to Azkaban."

"Poor bloke," Ron muttered darkly.

"They didn't even check him for the Dark Mark, Barty Crouch just locked him up without a real trial." Hermione added, apparently coming round from her rage at the boys to defend Sirius Black. Hermione Granger, defending a mass murderer. Daphne was speechless.

She stared at them, and even more at Tracey who was nodding like what she was hearing was a perfectly acceptable story. Tracey was a half-blood though, that was different. Daphne had spent her childhood growing up with the names of Death Eaters recited to her, Bellxtrix LeStrange and Sirius Black were among the worst of them according to her mother, who had only ever spoken about Death Eaters after her husband had died.

"It's like Lucius Malfoy," Harry said, speaking to nobody else but Daphne, "once he was Imperioused that was it. Everyone else was a liar too." Just like your dad. It was like a knife being plunged into her heart, she wanted to scream at him, tell him that it was nothing like that, that nothing could ever be like that. But the problem was that if what he was saying was true, then it was exactly like that. Sirius Black wasn't a Death Eater, just like her father hadn't been, and everyone else had just decided that the lie was the truth.

Words failed to form as Daphne tried to say them. She wanted to object, wanted to shout and curse. But there was nothing other than a growing sense of realisation. So instead of speaking she nodded.

"Sirius was my dad's best friend," Harry went on, "and he's in the Order too, he was the first time round as well. The Order are trying to do everything they can to stop him, but it's not easy while everyone thinks me and Dumbledore are insane or something.

"Look I know it's been hard, you guys coming into the DA and everything." Harry said, "and I know it's not going to get any easier either. That's why I wanted to tell you all this stuff."

"Okay," Daphne said dully. Her mind was, as it often seemed to be these days, trawling up memories she had long since buried.

"And you can't tell anyone," said Hermione, looking at the two of them.

"Don't worry, Hermione. We won't say anything." Tracey promised, earnestly.

"No, not a thing." Daphne agreed, which seemed to do something to waylay the frustration that was surrounding Hermione.

"I think we'd better get going," Hermione said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. "They're probably wondering where you two are."

"Oh, right, yeah." said Harry, lamely. Daphne avoided his gaze, he probably wanted to ask if she was alright. See how she was feeling after what he'd said, but if she was honest with herself that was the last thing she wanted. A headache was clawing behind her eyes. What she wanted more than anything was to sleep. It had been a long day and it wasn't even the evening yet.

"Me?" Ron repeated dumbly. "Harry caught the Snitch."

"You realise you were incredible today, right?" Tracey asked.

"You think so?" Ron was practically beaming, Hermione rolled her eyes and began gathering up her things and heading for the door.

"Yeah, you were great. Warrington was fuming by the end."

"Ah, nice one."

Behind him the door that Daphne had grown so used to seeing and which signalled the end of her time in the Room of Requirement, seeped into existence. It knew what she wanted more than anything in the world, after all.

"We'd better get going too. We'll see you all soon." There were mumbled goodbyes from Ron, who immediately went back to talking Quidditch with Tracey. With Hermione by the door, Daphne found herself practically alone with Harry. "Thank you for telling me, us, all of that."

"Yeah, well I trust you, Daph. That's what friends are for."

She smiled at him, her eyes glued to the floor. "And I really am glad you're okay. Ron wasn't the only one who was amazing today."

He grinned, "Tracey gave me a run for my money."

"Yeah, well, she's good. But so are you."

"Thanks, Daph. You're pretty amazing too."

"Are we going or not?" Hermione called from the door, clearly itching to leave. Somehow, Daphne suspected that this was not going to be the last that Harry or Ron heard about this conversation. With a sheepish grin to Daphne and a quick goodbye, Harry joined Hermione by the door and after a slightly awkward goodbye to Tracey, Ron followed suit.

"You seem to be getting on well," Daphne commented when the main door had sunk out of existence. "Anything I should know about?"

"I dunno, maybe? He's just nice, you know? And funny."

"I'd agree with some of those," Daphne smirked, enjoying teasing her friend. It was a welcome respite from the conversation she had teetered on the edge of having with Harry. "Give it a shot, why not?"

"Because it might go horribly wrong?"

"It might also go well," Daphne pointed out as she took the handle of the door in her hand. "Oh, and that reminds me. Snape's made you Slytherin team's official substitute, he told me to let you know."

Daphne didn't look back as she walked through the door but thought Tracey was happy about the news, given that she practically screamed the entire Room of Requirement down with excitement.