A/N: Happy Sunday everyone! I did a small rewrite in the last chapter because Ordinarily Prudent left me a very nice and detailed review with amazing suggestions. It probably won't be a common thing, because if I'm going to do rewrites, it'll probably be when it's finished. No major plot changes or anything from the rewrite, just better character emphasis.
I hope to update every 1-2 weeks, but never any more than that. At least will do 2 updates a month.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any works by J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 8
The remaining months passed by in a flash. They kept to their schedule as usual. Daphne went to work in the morning and returned at night, and Harry spent the day with Astoria and went dueling 3 times a week at night.
A few things did change however. Harry made Daphne swear to never steal again in which she wholeheartedly agreed due to her already existing guilt.
Harry also told Daphne about the conversation he had with Astoria at the ice cream shop. She agreed that he did the right thing and thanked him profusely for helping Astoria out.
The second eventual Hogwarts letter also arrived for Harry. They celebrated his birthday the week after, holding a small party in their room.
As the days continued flying by, it eventually reached September 1st.
Harry was the first one to open his eyes that morning. He found himself staring at the sleeping form of Daphne, with her curled up to his left side, and one of his arms around her.
It was another one of the changes that happened. The two of them got closer and more comfortable with each other that they no longer slept on each side separated by Astoria. Harry now slept in the middle and would hold Daphne at night.
Harry laid there deep in thought about everything that had happened. It wouldn't be long until Daphne herself started stirring.
"Mmmmmhhhh" she mumbled.
"Good morning, Daphne." Harry said softly.
Daphne slowly opened her eyes and groggily turned towards Harry. "Good morning," she said.
"Nightmares?"
She shook her head. "Not this time, surprisingly. You?"
"The same one as usual," Harry mumbled. "James about to kill me and then seeing Goyle with his wand in front of me."
Daphne didn't say anything. She just looked at him sadly and pulled him into an embrace.
"But I wasn't scared," Harry continued. "Not like I used to be. I knew you were right next to me, so there wasn't any reason to be afraid."
That earned him a small smile from Daphne in which he returned happily. They laid there for a couple minutes, cuddled into each other.
Harry reached inside his shirt and pulled on a chain, revealing it to be a locket. He opened it up to show a moving picture of him and Daphne standing side by side, smiling back at the camera. In between them stood Astoria, holding up two V signs with her fingers, grinning back.
Daphne glanced over to the locket. "You look at it every morning," she commented.
Harry shook his head. "Not just every morning. Sometimes before I duel as well. I know I'd lose but it gives me the courage to keep going."
Harry felt her soft lips on his cheek, giving him a small peck. "Then I'm glad you like your birthday present," Daphne said, smiling.
It was another thing that changed. Over the months, Daphne and Harry got much closer, up to the point where Daphne would give him small kisses on the cheek or the side of his lips. They never went any further than that though, but the two of them were content with letting their relationship stay like that for a while.
"I love it very much, it's the best birthday present I've ever gotten," he said softly. "Even if I'm far away, carrying this locket around keeps the two of you with me in a way."
Daphne held onto Harry even tighter, her heart beating a little and her face a bit flushed. They continued laying there together in silence, only with the sounds of Astoria's steady breathing to fill the room.
"We should get our bed," Harry started. "The express leaves at 11."
Daphne groaned at hearing that, and decided to sink herself even deeper into Harry's arms. "We can stay like this a while longer…"
"Daphne…"
"I know, I know," she sighed. "Just a couple more minutes, okay?"
They couldn't bring themselves to leave the bed a couple minutes later. It took them half an hour to finally sit up and another 15 minutes to finally leave the bed.
It was a quarter till 10, and the small family didn't even fully pack yet. Everyone was rushing to get all the things they needed into the trunk. Astoria wasn't even fully awake yet and just walked around the room in a daze.
"Tori! Go get dressed in the bathroom already!" Daphne hurried.
"Ughhh…um…where…?" Astoria mumbled.
"Bathroom! Now! The clothes are already in-."
"Hey Daphne?" Harry interrupted. "Have you seen my wand?"
"Your wand? Which one? The fake or real?"
"Uhhh…both?"
"How could you lose both of your wands, Harry?" Daphne said in a panic.
"I don't know! I swear they were around here somewhere…"
After some more bickering and rushed packings, they all managed to finally begin to leave the room.
As they were about to close the door for the final time, Daphne suddenly remembered about Astoria.
"I completely forgot about it!" She cried.
"Huh? Are we forgetting something?" Harry worriedly.
"Tori!"
Astoria was still half awake, so when she heard her name called, she just gave a, "huh…"
"In the trunk!"
Before Astoria could even say anything, Daphne had already picked her up and started climbing into the trunk. She emerged a couple of seconds later without Astoria and closed the trunk.
They managed to make their way down and drop their key at the bar for Tom, and hurriedly ran out to see if they could catch a taxi.
After struggling with the muggle money for a bit, they were finally able to arrive at King's Cross. When they arrived with a trolley of their stuff and Hedwig, they realized that they had a bit of a problem.
"Hey, Daphne…" Harry started. "The tickets from the letter show platform 9 ¾. Do you see it anywhere?"
Daphne searched around the station until she saw the platforms 9 and 10 signs.
"Maybe it's between those two?" She suggested, pointing at the two signs.
When they approached the platforms, they didn't see 9 ¾ anywhere at all. Daphne only let out a sigh of frustration as Harry stopped a passing officer to ask him.
"Excuse me sir," Harry said. "Do you know where I can find platform 9 ¾?"
"Platform 9 ¾…" the officer muttered. "Now where would that be? Oh, I know! It'll be right over there in the land of imaginaries! You think you're funny, lad?"
"Oh I'm sorry sir-"
Before Harry could finish his sentence, the officer just scoffed and walked away, mumbling about youngsters.
Daphne crossed her arms and glared at the officer walking away. "Well he's an arse that's for sure," she grumbled.
"Definitely," Harry agreed. "But that doesn't change the fact that apparently there's no platform 9 ¾. Have you ever heard from anyone how we board the train to Hogwarts?"
Daphne pursed her lips in thought before responding, "Well, there was this family that came in for divination supplies a few weeks back, but all I heard from them was that the entrance was between platforms 9 and 10. And since we're already here…"
The two of them just leaned against a wall frustratingly, trying their best to brainstorm what they could do.
Harry had noticed Daphne glancing nervously at him. After living with her for so long, he knew that she wanted to ask him something but was too scared to.
"Come on Daphne, ask the question on your mind," Harry encouraged.
The girl was about to tell him it was nothing, but decided against it instead.
"Did your um…family…ever talk about how to get on the platform?" She asked weakly.
Harry frowned before answering, "Probably did. Heard it mentioned a few times with Jamie around, but they never really told me anything. Probably only told him."
"Oh." Was all Daphne could say.
They continued to stand there in silence for a while before Harry interrupted it.
"Um…what about yours?" Harry asked back.
"Oh…no they never really said anything. They didn't spend much time with me before they…they…"
Daphne couldn't even finish the sentence. She just stared blankly at the ground which made Harry feel even more guilty for asking.
"…"
"…"
"I'm sorry!" Both of them suddenly shouted at the same time.
The two of them stared at each other incredulously before simultaneously bursting out into fits of laughter.
Whatever tension they felt was gone when a memory of their first meal together was reminded in that instance.
The two of them were both incredibly starved at the time, and had forsaken all table manners. When they finished, both of them interrupted each other much like this to apologize.
"O-oh Merlin…" Harry wheezed. "I never saw someone eat as fast as you back then!"
"H-hey, I wasn't the one who managed to stuff a large piece of bread in my stomach in one bite!" Daphne chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye.
"I remember Tori was licking her own plate clean. If we want to talk about table manners back then, she'd be our prime example!"
Daphne snorted. "It's not like she's improved much. I still have to remind her every morning not to lick the plate. She doesn't really have an excuse since we haven't had to worry about food for a long time."
"No she doesn't," Harry agreed.
After the two of them managed to calm themselves from their giggles, they just smiled at each other sadly.
"You know, we've come so far," Daphne said. "We managed to survive, Harry. We did it."
"It's really amazing, huh?" Harry mused. Then he started chuckling when he realized where they were. "We did all of that and our journey ends here, stopped by a stupid platform."
"Our journey hasn't ended," Daphne interrupted. She reached over to take his hand into hers, intertwining it. "We're still both alive together, aren't we? We got Tori with us and the three of us will find some way to make it work. We've always had."
"We also have Hedwig," Harry pointed out helpfully.
His comment made Daphne chuckle a bit, before she started stroking Hedwig's head who chirped happily at her touch.
"We should get back to the Leaky Cauldron," Daphne muttered. "The train leaves in 10 minutes. We'll figure something else out once we get back there."
Harry nodded and the two of them started getting ready to leave. As Harry was about to start pushing the trolley, they heard a loud male voice near them.
"-Come on Penny! We're going to be late for the train!"
A female voice answered back. "The Hogwarts Express doesn't leave yet! We still have 10 minutes, Percy! Slow down already!"
Both Harry and Daphne looked at each other with their eyes widened. They quickly rushed back to turn the corner between platforms 9 and 10 to see a redhead guy and a brunette girl holding each other.
"Percy, get your serious face on before you see your family." The girl said, cupping his face in her hands.
Percy morphed his face into a series of expressions until it landed on a stern looking one. "Is this one good, Penny?"
"I can still see you grinning a bit, Percy."
"My parents and siblings won't notice - well, maybe for the exception of Fred and George."
"Just make sure you steer clear of those two then."
Percy frowned. "Not sure if I can with those two. The annoying idiots have been following me around to mess with me, especially since they found out I became a prefect."
Penny smirked a little bit which caused Percy to raise an eyebrow at her questioningly. "What?" He asked.
She giggled a bit before answering. "Your serious face returned. Now get going, I'll be right behind you. Meet up on the train, okay?"
Percy nodded and turned around, running full speed into the wall behind him.
Harry and Daphne flinched, fully expecting him to crash into the wall. But instead, he disappeared into it, which left their mouths agape.
As Penny got ready to follow them, Daphne went up to her to get her attention.
"Excuse me, miss?"
Penny turned to find herself facing the silver blonde haired girl. She blinked and asked, "can I help you?"
"It's just - um, could you tell us how to…" Daphne trailed off.
Penny glanced back and forth between Harry and Daphne, seeing both of them nervous. She gave them a small smile to reassure them it was alright.
"Is this your first year?" She asked.
Daphne nodded. "Yeah. Me and Harry's."
"Well then, come here and stand right where I am, facing the wall." Penny gestured, having Daphne stand in her spot. She then pointed at the wall. "Now, just close your eyes and run straight into the wall. And when you open them, you'll find yourself on platform 9 ¾."
Daphne hesitated a bit, but followed the older girl's instruction nonetheless. Harry watched in amazement as Daphne passed seamlessly through the wall onto the other side.
Penny's voice shook Harry awake. "Harry, was it?" she asked curiously.
"Oh! Um yes. I'm Harry," he said dumbly.
Penny just stared at him weirdly before she showed him exactly what she showed Daphne. When Harry pushed the trolley through the barrier, he greeted Daphne. A couple seconds later, Penny followed through the barrier, coming up behind them.
"Well!" Penny said, clasping her hand together. "Just load your luggage onto the train and find a seat there. It's nice meeting the two of you! I'll see both of you on the train so we can talk more!"
Before the two could even thank Penny, she excitedly ran off, disappearing into the crowd.
"She's…nice I guess?" Harry said. "Although why does she want to talk more to us?"
Daphne just shrugged. "Who knows," she mused. "Maybe we're such cute little first years that she won't be able to keep away from us."
"You're not THAT cute," Harry smirked.
"Oh? And you are?"
"Definitely. Cutest first year all around."
Daphne rolled her eyes at his comment and started pulling one of his arms, dragging him and the trolley along. "Come on. Let's get on the train before it leaves and THEN we can talk about who's the cutest first year is."
They opened the cage for Hedwig to fly, telling her to meet them at Hogwarts.
As they were about to board onto the train, Harry heard someone call his name.
"HARRY! I'M RIGHT HERE!"
He looked around, searching for the voice. He gazed into the crowd but only saw people hurriedly saying goodbyes to their families or already boarding the train.
"What's the matter?" Daphne asked, seeing him look around.
"Nothing," he muttered. "I just thought I heard something. Let's get going."
Harry and Daphne finally boarded the train and wandered around until they finally found an empty compartment. Not long before they got themselves seated, their door slid open to reveal Penny.
"You're Harry Potter, aren't you?" she immediately asked.
The two of them stared at the girl in surprise. Harry stiffened up and replied, "So what if I am?"
Her eyes lit up and she excitedly slid right onto the seat across from them without even asking.
"Tell me what happened!" Penny exclaimed.
"About what?" He almost snarled.
"The assasination attempt in Knockturn Alley of course!"
Harry just scoffed and crossed his arms, looking away from her. "Read the newspaper if you want to know. That's all that people believe nowadays."
"But obviously there's more to the story than that! No one even got your side of the story and Rita Skeeter is definitely someone I wouldn't trust to write the truth."
This caused Harry to turn back to her and Daphne's eyes to widen.
"What do you mean by that?" Daphne asked sharply.
"Well it just seems strange that no one ever told how they knew Harry was sneaking around to steal the glory!" Penny explained. "The only evidence provided was that Harry followed them and was found passed out there. If he was planning to attack his brother as well, he could easily have been brought in by aurors for questioning. But he never was! One could also conclude that he went in to help, but was rendered unconscious before anything could be done."
"…"
"…"
"Um, hello? Guys?" Penny asked nervously, waving her hand in front of the still frozen pair.
"I think you should tell her, Harry." Daphne said slowly. "She's the first sensible person I think I've seen in a long time."
Harry just nodded dumbly and began telling her what really happened that day and what happened afterwards.
Penny was mortified when she learned about what happened. Harry told her how he tried to help his brother but woke up to be accused of the crimes. He told her how he was locked up in his room and starved, and had nightmares for months. He finished his story about being kicked out of his home after his father tried to kill him and was forced into Diagon Alley after he managed to successfully apparate.
He left out the parts of his wandless magic and parseltongue though. As nice as Penny seemed to them, he didn't know her all that well.
"Oh you poor thing!" Penny cried. She moved to wrap her arms around Harry's head, pulling him into her chest.
Seeing this, Daphne's eye started to twitch and she looked at Penny murderously. What was this girl doing with HER Harry?
"Harry…why don't you tell her how you met me," Daphne growled. "And about how it was ME who was the first one to believe in you…and everything else that we went through together."
"…"
Harry didn't even respond. He was doing his best to worm his way out of the girl's tight hug, but was failing miserably.
"Ugh!" Daphne groaned. "Boys and their obsessions with…argh!"
"Help!" Was all Harry could say.
Daphne just let out a sigh, told her name and began telling her own story. While Penny still held on to Harry, she still kept her eyes on Daphne and nodded along at key points of her story.
The story was that her parents died, forcing her and Astoria out into the streets. The goblins denied her their inheritance because of her grandfather, and the sisters had to steal to survive. Daphne met Harry when she tried to steal from him and the two decided to work together to survive.
She talked about them both working (although she only said that Harry worked a night job) and that was how they were able to watch over Astoria. Eventually, they saved up enough money to buy the necessary Hogwarts materials.
When Daphne finished her story, Penny let go of Harry and threw her arms around Daphne instead. "You poor girl!" She cried.
Harry snickered in revenge but a glare from Daphne forced him to stifle it. It didn't stop his lips from trembling slightly, ready to burst into laughter.
Penny finally let go of Daphne a couple minutes later and started straightening herself out.
Daphne took this opportunity to ask some questions, determined to find out just exactly who this girl was.
"I don't think you've told us your name, miss…?" Daphne asked.
The girl gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She exclaimed. "I absolutely forgot to tell you my name!"
She quickly extended her hand towards Daphne. "Penelope. Penelope Clearwater. But the two of you can call me Penny if you want. That's what my friends call me, and I do hope we can be friends!"
"So…what made you decide that you'd want to find out the truth about me?" Harry asked carefully.
Penny or now, Penelope, shrugged. "I am a Ravenclaw. Our house prizes ourselves on learning and thinking through things. When I first saw the article, a few things caught my eye about how out of place it was. After I met you at the station, I knew I had to find out the truth."
"Ravenclaw sounds like a nice house," Daphne mused. "We don't know much about the three other houses so…could you tell us more about them?"
Penelope's eyes lit up when she heard Daphne ask. "Of course! Well there's Gryffindor, for the brave. My boyfriend, Percy, is in Gryffindor. Actually, he was the one who made me really want to meet with you, Harry. As much as I care about him, he can be quite thick headed like the rest of them and he's also stern with rules and authority sometimes. I ran off to tell him earlier and he said he'll want to meet you to really see the truth then. The Gryffindors really…"
For the next half hour, Penelope regaled them about the stories from the different houses. When she reached Ravenclaw, she went into great details about how great it was and how amazing it would be if they were sorted in.
"Did you know," Penelope was saying. "That we only have to share our rooms with one other person? Apparently, Professor Flitwick argued for us to keep that tradition, stating that Ravenclaws are supposed to be independent thinkers and this would help us learn how to be more independent…"
Harry and Daphne shared a knowing look. It was one of things that worried them the past few months. They weren't sure how'd they stay together and keep Astoria hidden, but now it seems the answer was right in front of them.
"Penny…" Daphne interrupted, causing her to stop mid-sentence.
"Yes…?"
"How do we get sorted into Ravenclaw? We decided we really want to go there but what kind of tests do we have to do? And you haven't told us how we're sorted."
Penelope paled a little bit. "Well…um…there's not really a way but I can't…well you see I'm not really supposed to say how you're sorted…"
She hesitated a bit, before discreetly placing a silencing charm on the door. Her voice dropped into a low whisper and leaned in, "okay, once we get to Hogwarts, they'll sort you into houses with a hat. Professor McGonagall will call your name up and you'll place the hat on your head. It'll read your thoughts and determine from your traits which house is best suited for you."
"It's going to read our thoughts?" Harry and Daphne exclaimed, at the same time, then both immediately blushing.
Penelope just looked back and forth between the two of them. "Yes…" she said slowly. "Although I assure you, the hat is bound by magic not to reveal anything."
"Well, um, that's good." Harry said nervously
"Definitely." Daphne agreed.
The three of them sat in silence for a bit until Penelope blurted out, "you two are dating, aren't you?"
Before the two of them could deny anything, Penelope continued on. "You're both clearly comfortable with each other. I've noticed how the two of you seem to be able to talk to each other without even saying anything, and you both have barely moved away from one another."
"I think you're mist-" Harry started but was cut off by Penelope.
"Furthermore," she continued. "When I mentioned the room sharing, the two of you looked at each other and Daphne immediately asked me how to get into Ravenclaw - for the both of you. Without saying a single word to each other."
Harry and Daphne were shocked at the girl's acute observations. They pair tried to rack their brains to come up with something, but the only thing they had was the actual truth - hiding Astoria. And it wasn't something they could exactly share.
And they weren't even sure how to respond to the dating claim.
So, they just sat in silence and stared at the older girl. Penelope just let out a sigh before giving them her warning.
"Look," she started. "We don't exactly encourage first year boys and girls to share a room with one another. In fact, I don't think it's ever even happened before for first years. I don't have to explain to you two why we discourage it, you two understand. Matter of fact, Professor Flitwick will probably warn you that he'll be watching you and occasionally do checks."
Penelope tapped on her chest, a badge that was hanging there. "And as a Ravenclaw prefect," she continued. "I'll be having to watch over the two of you as well. Probably more than the other first years anyways."
Daphne and Harry nodded solemnly, showing their understanding.
Penelope, seeing that they understood, stood up and released the silencing charm on the door. "We're almost to Hogwarts now," she said. "I'd suggest the two of you get changed - separately. And I should have met up with the other prefects a while ago, so I'll need to be heading off now."
She slid open the door and started heading out, but before she got too far, Penelope called back cheerfully.
"You two can always come to me if you need anything! And I do hope that the two of you are sorted into Ravenclaw, that way I'll be able to have more time to see your cute first year faces!"
As Penelope's footsteps echoed down the train, Harry turned towards Daphne, the two of them still blushing red.
"I'll, um, wait outside." Harry stammered. "Tell me when you're finished.
Daphne nodded embarrassingly and moved to grab their trunk from overhead. Harry walked outside and slid the door closed, waiting patiently for her so he could have his turn.
Harry wasn't expecting to be telling his story to someone else today, much less someone who believed him. It felt good that Penelope seemed to care already quite a bit about the two of them.
He smiled a bit, remembering how she held him in her arms and then holding Daphne.
"Hey Daphne?" Harry suddenly decided to call out.
"Yeah?"
"Penny was hugging me much longer, shows who's really the cutest first year around, huh?"
He could hear an exaggerated huff from inside the compartment.
"No way!" Daphne's voice echoed. "Just because she held onto you longer doesn't mean you're cuter! She was talking to me more anyway!"
"I think someone is just jealous they didn't get a good enough hug!" Harry said in a singsong voice.
"Oh shut up!"
Harry cracked a grin. He could tell that despite their jests, Daphne was holding back a laugh from the tone of her voice.
Daphne emerged from the compartment with a smirk on her face. Whatever awkwardness they had early was gone. "Go get changed, Harry. Show me how cute little first year Harry looks in Hogwarts robes."
He rolled his eyes and went in to get changed.
When he emerged in his robes, he found Daphne linking her arm with his and pulled him along to the exit.
"Come on, Harry!" She said excitedly. "I wanna see what Hogwarts looks like with you!"
Hogwarts. It was right outside. A part of him suddenly felt scared. What if he couldn't pass the courses? What if something happened to Astoria when they couldn't watch over her?
And what if…what if Daphne was targeted by everyone else just for associating with him?
He knew that the other students wouldn't treat him nicely with his reputation. But he now realized that Daphne would get the same treatment as him as long as she was near.
Maybe… it was better if he let her go on ahead.
As he let himself be dragged off by Daphne, he couldn't help but to start smiling sadly at the girl in front of him. They had been stuck together for a year now, but now he had to separate from her.
For her own good.
"Daphne?" he called
Daphne turned around to see his sad smile. She immediately froze.
Before he could even say anything, she just moved in and pulled him into a deep hug.
"Um, Daphne? Why-"
"I'm not leaving you," she stated. "I don't care what anyone else thinks. They don't matter to me. Only you and Tori are the ones that matter."
Harry just let out a humorless chuckle. "How did you even know?" He whispered.
"Because I know you." She simply said. "We've come this far, Harry. We'll do this. Together."
He just looked at her, and their eyes met.
Pure determination.
And was that a hint of…love?
He wasn't sure. But he was sure that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Together then," he agreed.
And with that, the two of them held each other's hand and stepped off the train and onto the Hogwarts grounds.
A/N: Bit of a slow chapter, I know. I thought a lot has happened already so I want to slow things down a little bit. I know I know, this chapter was a little bit boring but come on guys. Give our characters a chance to have a little rest. I'm sure Harry and Daphne are bit tired. We do need that one chapter for buildup.
And I thought the introduction of Penelope deserves a bit more time. I tried to showcase her Ravenclaw deductive reasoning skills. Hopefully I did good.
I imagine Penelope would be a bit like Hermione from canon, except Penelope has less of the authority worshipping that Hermione does.
I've also pretty much finished drafting the rest of the story. All I can say is that I have no idea how I'm going to be able to write it without overwhelming you guys, because there's like 3 different branching plotlines lol. Maybe I'll have to cut some of it, who knows.
Thank you for reading this far! I hope everyone here is enjoying the read!