Acknowledgments: Rpeh for the beta work.
Nothing Will Come of Nothing
"Good morning, Hermione," Harry said cheerily as he slid into the otherwise empty Gryffindor table.
"I'm still mad at you," Hermione responded. She ignored him as he piled eggs and sausages onto his plate.
"Me? What could I have possibly done?" Harry asked with as fake of a sheepish sense as he could muster. The effect was probably lost given that he was shoveling eggs into his mouth at an alarming rate as he spoke.
"Chew your food," Hermione scoffed.
"Oh please, it's scrambled eggs, they hardly warrant chewing," Harry responded. He cut up a sausage and made a deliberate show of chewing it as he stared at her.
"Don't blame me when you choke," she said.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Harry said as he continued to eat. He did make a point to do it slower. Hermione wasn't paying any attention to him though. She was rather intentionally staring across the hall at nothing and Harry assumed she wished she'd brought a book to the meal. She'd probably assumed that she'd be left alone that early in the morning.
She would have, too, if it hadn't been for both Neville and Ron's snoring. He could have used a silencing charm on both of them. In fact, he'd done that countless times since he'd learned the thing. But he felt rather rested when they'd woken him so he'd decided to face the day rather than crawl back into his blankets.
He kept eating, letting the silence linger. He knew that it was a competition at this point, and whoever spoke first would be the loser. And he couldn't lose. That thought was unfathomable.
"Why are you even up?" Hermione broke first. Harry took a sip of pumpkin juice to hide his smirk. He knew it was pointless, but the competitive side of him won out regardless.
"Just didn't feel like going back to bed," Harry said.
"I see," Hermione responded. Her tone was still stiff as she spoke. She speared a piece of melon from her plate and ate it. Harry stared at her for a few moments before speaking.
"I don't get why you're mad at me," Harry said. Hermione dropped her fork and brought her gaze level to his.
"You ditched me!" she yelled. The three other students who'd opted for the early morning breakfast all turned to stare at them.
"No, I didn't," Harry said.
"Yes, you did," Hermione said. "You said you would go to the party. You did not go to the party."
"I said I would think about it," Harry said. "And I did think about it. But the audition seemed like something worth giving a shot."
"You have never mentioned any interest in anything remotely similar to that before. I know you did it just to not have to go to the party. And to not have to spend the evening with me," Hermione said. Her eyes were starting to look rather wet.
"I spend most of my time with you," Harry said. "I didn't want to spend any of it with Slughorn."
"I thought for sure you would come," she said, sounding rather small. "It really hurt me when you left me there. You could have at least told me what you were doing. I felt like an idiot when I told Slughorn I thought you were coming."
"Well, I'm sorry, but you of all people know how I'm avoiding those things like the plague," Harry said. "It shouldn't have surprised you that I went any another rather publicized, event on the same day."
"Of course it should when you have never mentioned any interest it since they started advertising for it!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry shrugged his shoulders.
"Whimsy struck," he said.
"You're being insufferable," Hermione chided.
"Is that any different than normal?" Daphne Greengrass said. She slid onto the Gryffindor bench and peered at the serving platter of sausages. She poked through it, before spearing one rather cooked looking sausage and taking a bite out of it.
"No. Not really," Hermione said. Harry pressed his hand to his chest as if he was wounded by her comment. Hermione paid him no notice and Daphne took another bite.
"I didn't think so," she responded as she finished chewing.
"What do you want, Daphne?" Hermione asked.
"Why do I have to want something?" Daphne responded. She lifted her bag up onto the table and opened it. "Maybe I just wanted company for breakfast."
"Then how was your weekend?" Hermione responded as she speared another chunk of fruit onto her fork and popped it into her mouth. She did it without turning her gaze toward whatever Daphne was rummaging for.
"Fine," Daphne said. "Got a great deal of work done." She pulled out a roll of parchment and tossed it down onto the table next to Hermione. The Gryffindor raised her brows and picked it up, unrolling it. Harry peered over at the parchment and saw a bunch of elaborate shapes and drawings that made no sense to him.
"You got a month's worth of runes done?" Hermione sounded surprised as her eyes scanned over the work.
"My portion of it at any rate," Daphne said. She lifted her bag back onto her shoulder before spearing another sausage with a fork.
"Why?" Hermione blinked but rolled up the parchment and added it into her own bag.
"I had a strange hunch Friday evening that I might not have a lot of free time coming up in the next few weeks. Seemed like a better idea to get ahead on work rather than fall behind," Daphne shrugged. "Tell me if I need to change anything."
"I will," Hermione said. "I hadn't started on this set yet. I should be able to get my portion to you by Thursday or Friday."
"No rush," Daphne said with a satisfied smile. "I'll probably end up cramming for the exam anyway so don't feel like you have to."
"I won't," Hermione responded and turned her attention back to her fruit as Daphne stood and moved her way to the Slytherin table. Harry watched her go, finding the view pleasing. It earned him a smack on the arm from Hermione. Thankfully, though, he turned to protest just as Daphne spun around and added.
"Oh, and Harry, Professor Burbage posted the audition results in the Entrance Hall this morning. You might want to go look," she said before she slid into a spot at the Slytherin table.
"I will," Harry said, feeling rather startled by that. A sinking feeling filled his chest. Why would she want him to go look? Either because he utterly embarrassed himself, but then why would it matter? Or was it far worse?
"Are you going to go check?" Hermione asked.
"I mean, at some point," Harry shrugged.
"You're being a coward," Hermione chided as she finished up her fruit. "The Harry that won the Tri-Wizard Tournament by charging headlong into danger wouldn't be afraid of a slip of paper on a bulletin board."
"Tied, technically," Harry countered.
"I'm supposed to be the pedantic one," Hermione said.
"Touché," Harry said.
"Do you even want a part?" she asked.
"I don't know," Harry said. Hermione raised her brows at him.
"You don't know?" she pressed him for a more thought about answer than that. The problem was he wasn't sure.
"I didn't go to audition," Harry admitted. "I hadn't thought about it beforehand. I thought it would be interesting to see. Professor Burbage made everyone that showed up audition. I was rather unprepared and awful."
"I'm sure you weren't too bad," Hermione said.
"I was the only one she made go twice," Harry said. "And she called up Daphne to help during the second one. I figured I was so bad she had to have someone else she was more familiar with come up to show it."
"You think that she made you perform twice, once with someone else, because she thought you were bad?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know. Maybe? Why not? I don't know how any of those things work. There was a lot of snickering and glaring about it but I tuned it out like I do," Harry said.
"Sometimes you're not very bright," Hermione said.
"Life is easier that way," Harry said.
"So why don't you want a part?" Hermione asked.
"I just never thought about having a part. I'm not sure how I'd fit it in. And I don't think I'd be any good at it," Harry said.
"Harry, you're good at most everything you put your mind to. With things like Defense it's infuriating to watch. No matter how much I study or try to get ahead I still have to watch you master things faster than I can manage. If you put forth the effort, I'm sure you'd be fine," Hermione said.
"Thank you," Harry responded.
"And I think you should go and look at the board to at least see what it says. Otherwise you're going to sit here all tense for the entire duration of breakfast and I'm going to find that irritating," Hermione added.
"Fine," Harry chuckled under his breath as he spoke. He rose to his feet and turned to leave. He spoke over his shoulder as he moved. "We wouldn't want you to be annoyed. That would just ruin everyone's day."
"Oh ha-ha," she said. Harry knew her well enough to know she was rolling her eyes at him as he left the Great Hall. He moved to the bulletin board just outside of it and, sure enough, a fresh roll of parchment was affixed to the middle of it. He took a deep breath before starting to read the note in what could only be Professor Burbage's flowing hand.
First, I would like to extend my thanks for everyone who auditioned for the production of The Fountain of Fair Fortune. Had I known that so many of you would turn out for the auditions I would have picked a performance with more roles!
Below you will find the list of roles for the upcoming performance. There will be a meeting on Monday evening to discuss best times for rehearsals and the like. If you are named please come to my office at eight this evening. If you are named and have had a change of heart please inform me before this evening.
Do not be discouraged if you are not. Judging from the turnout I am hoping to start a new tradition at Hogwarts and will hopefully be able to provide many opportunities in the future.
Please remember there are many other roles to be filled behind the scenes as well. If you are still interested in helping with anything else ranging from staging to costuming please approach me in my office to discuss more opportunities.
And without further ado I present the cast of The Fountain of Fair Fortune!
Altheda – Padma Patil
Asha – Leanne Kitman
Amata – Daphne Greengrass
Sir Luckless – Harry Potter
A few lines followed of other various smaller, unnamed roles but Harry's eyes focused on his name on the sheet. It surprised him, to say the least. But there it was.
"Congratulations, Harry!" Padma Patil said from his side. She clapped him on the back as she peered at the sheet as well.
"Uhm, thanks. You too, you were great," Harry said.
"Thank you. I had to leave before you went because Parvati 'forgot' to do her Transfiguration homework again," Padma said.
"And you helped her?" Harry asked, aghast. "Seems like she dug her own grave on that one."
"She'd cry to our parents and it would be my fault anyway so I put up with it. She's good for at least one mix-up like that a week. But I heard from Lisa that you were quite good," Padma said.
"I don't know about that," Harry said. "I felt like an idiot the whole time."
"So did I," Padma said. Harry had a hard time believing that given how expertly and confidently she'd delivered every one of her lines.
"I'd have never guessed that," Harry said.
"Acting," Padma smirked at him.
"Oh yes, I see," Harry chuckled at her joke.
"Are you going to do it?" she asked, nodding toward the announcement. "I know you're busy with Quidditch."
"I will have to postpone tonight's training," Harry said. "The team will be thrilled, I'm sure. They all think I'm working them too hard. A couple of nights off a week won't hurt them."
"And might give Ravenclaw a chance to beat you," Padma joked as they moved to the Great Hall.
"Maybe," Harry smirked in a way that indicated he did not think such a thing was possible as they moved to their separate tables. The Hall was more populated now and he noticed a few people were staring daggers at him. Most notably the Hufflepuff Ernie Macmillan who was often cordial with him.
Harry slid back onto the bench next to Hermione and glanced around the room. The stares were enough to annoy him into shoveling some more eggs onto a plate.
"How'd it go?" Hermione asked,
"I am Sir Luckless," Harry sighed. Hermione peered up from her book with her brows raised.
"And you still think the audition went poorly?" Hermione teased.
"Depending on perspective I guess you could say it did," Harry countered.
"Don't be glib," Hermione chided.
"Can't help it," Harry said. Hermione rolled her eyes at him as Ron and Lavender came down to breakfast. They stared at each other, whispering to each other as they sat down a few spots away from Harry and Hermione.
"I'm going to go get ready for Arithmancy," Hermione said before standing and leaving the table in a rush. Harry didn't bother watching her leave, opting instead to stare at the table before he decided to venture off to class.
The day was pretty much a blur for Harry after that. It seemed like at least half the school approached him at various points of the day with either a snide comment or a compliment about his casting.
It didn't help that Professor Slughorn spoke of nothing else during his lesson, either. And it rubbed Harry the wrong way that he even went so far as to imply that it was his own positive words that swayed Professor Burbage in his direction. He seemed oblivious to the daggers being stared at Harry when he brought that up. Harry slid as low into his seat as he could manage and produced a rather mediocre potion. He hoped that it would cause the professor to stop talking about him. But all it accomplished was a litany of comment of how he must have been distracted by his newest passion.
The meeting that evening was astonishingly brief. Professor Burbage started by giving them all copies of the script. She spent a few minutes asking for volunteers with other various things like coming up with the costumes and the décor, and encouraging them to get to work rehearsing as quickly as they could, offering her classroom for whatever activities they needed, and then sent them on their way.
Harry read the whole script when he returned to the common room that evening. Hermione peered over his shoulder at it every few minutes but otherwise didn't comment. Harry didn't find any of his lines to be particularly difficult but wondered how he'd be able to memorize the entire thing in a month. Repetition, he thought, just like Quidditch. He'd just have to drill it until he could do it without thinking.
He was rather surprised, although if he was honest he wasn't sure what he expected, about the general lack of direction in the script. There were some headings indicating when a scene changed but very little else. He figured Professor Burbage must want them to sort it out themselves.
Either way, after he'd finished reading the script he spent a few minutes getting as much of his Potions homework done as he could manage before deciding on bed.
Padma Patil approached him at breakfast the next morning. She had a calendar in her hand with text scribbled all over it and started badgering him about what days would work the best for him. She questioned him on Quidditch practice schedule, his usual homework allotment, when he liked to relax, and even his favorite snack items. By about the five minute mark he was answering as quickly as he could hoping for it to end.
Somehow that all turned into Wednesday being the best option for their first rehearsal. By that point he had no interest in arguing with it and agreed so he could eat his breakfast.
So he found himself walking down the stairs toward the classrooms on Wednesday evening. He'd divested himself of everything except his script and his wand as he hopped down the steps from Gryffindor tower.
"Hey Daphne," he said as he slid off the last step and turned toward the classrooms at the same moment she emerged from the dungeons.
"Harry," she responded. She fell into step with him as they walked for, Harry presumed, no other reason than they were going to the same destination.
"Excited?" he asked.
"More nervous, I think," she admitted. "You?"
"I'm not sure I can tell the difference," Harry quipped. She rolled her eyes at him.
"One feeling is happy, one feeling in scary," she said dryly.
"Nope. Still can't tell the difference," Harry said. "I blame Quidditch."
"This feels like a Quidditch match to you?" Daphne asked. She tilted her head to the side and stared at him while they walked down the hall.
"It's similar, yes," Harry admitted.
"I've never done much organized sports. Not a feeling I'd like to get used to," Daphne commented.
"Huh, really?" Harry asked.
"I mean do you like feeling queasy all the time?" Daphne asked, focusing on the wrong part of her previous sentence. Harry shook his head.
"No, I mean sports," Harry said.
"Most seasons run during school. And Hogwarts doesn't have what you'd call an excess of teams," Daphne said.
"That surprises me."
"Why?"
"Well, if I'm honest, your backside seems to be the result of consistent effort often associated with exercise," Harry said as clinically as he could muster. Daphne flushed red as she glared at him.
"Would you prefer if walked a few steps in front of you?" Daphne asked, icily.
"If you're willing," Harry teased.
"You're worse than our mirror," Daphne spat.
"Sorry," Harry said. "Just teasing."
"It's fine," Daphne said in a tone that indicated it was anything but. Harry took the clue and continued toward the Muggle Studies classroom. The next few steps only served to increase the tension so Harry tried to diffuse it.
"Did you read the script?" he asked.
"Of course," she said. Her tone was still stiff but he saw her shoulders relax slightly. "I'm fairly close to memorizing them. How about yourself?"
"I am not," Harry said. "I didn't want to get too involved until I figured out how these sessions were going to go."
"That sounds like laziness," Daphne scowled. "If you bring us down by not putting in the effort."
"I'm not lazy," Harry said. He didn't mean for it to come out harsh but Daphne flinched away from him non the less.
"Have you even memorized a single line?" Daphne asked as they approached the classroom. Harry opened the door for her, giving her the most patronizing look he could muster as she entered. He followed after her.
"Praise the sun!" He exclaimed Sir Luckless's opening line as he entered, causing Daphne to jump. "Companions!"
"And who might you be, fair muggle?" Padma asked, her brows raised as he fought back a smile.
"I am known as Sir Luckless, my lady," Harry said with an exaggerated bow that nearly caused him to topple over. Somehow, he managed to hit his head on a desk on the way back up so he cursed loudly. "And that hurt."
"Are you okay?" Leanne asked, recovering first. Harry nodded and pulled his hand from his head. He saw blood on it.
"Well, uhm, maybe not," he said, blinking at the red on his hand.
"Let me see it," Daphne said as she moved toward him. Harry knew she was too short to see the back of his head readily so he sat in a nearby desk. She slid a hand into his hair and parted it.
"Am I dying?" he joked.
"Sadly no," she said. She drew out her wand and leveled it on his head. "It's just a small cut."
"Drat," Harry sighed as melodramatically as he could muster.
"I can make it worse, if you like," Daphne said. He could feel magic start to work and the wound close. She took a moment to clean the blood out of his hair as well.
"It would get me out of rehearsal," Harry teased.
"Wouldn't want to give you any ideas," Daphne sighed.
"Knowing our luck he'll probably knock himself out during the performance," Padma said.
"That would be impressive and embarrassing," Daphne commented.
"Just keep me away from sharp objects," Harry added.
"I'm pretty sure your costume is going to have a sword," Leanne added.
"We're screwed then," Harry said.
"Perhaps we should stop talking about Harry's handling of his sword and attempt to be more productive," Padma said, causing both Leanne and Daphne to both burst into giggles. Which caused Padma to crack and giggle again. And, to perhaps no one's surprise, the rest of the evening was filled with sword jokes.
They didn't do too much that first evening. They read through the script in their own roles, which took them a little bit over an hour and then spent the next half hour discussing what they thought about the story and their own characters.
Padma wanted to accentuate her character's intelligence. She wanted to give her a bit more of a leadership role than was quite evident in the script. The girls bickered about that for a few minutes. But none of them could provide any sort of real reason why that shouldn't be the case.
Leanne had less certain of an idea. As a whole she'd been rather passive the entire evening. And when pressed she couldn't come up with much more than that. Padma pressed her for a few minutes but Leanne folded and stopped answering the questions without extensive prying. A moment before Harry was going to step in Padma stopped asking.
Daphne wanted to play up the scorned annoyance of Amata. She didn't want the character to appear to be paralyzed by a lost love. There was some argument from Padma, but after not too long they settled on something in the middle.
Finally, she turned to Harry.
"And how do you picture Sir Luckless?" she asked.
"Don Quixote," Harry said. "A sort of bumbling but personable fool."
"Really?" Daphne asked.
"Yeah," Harry responded. "Is that a problem?"
"No," Daphne responded. "I just thought you'd want to be, well, cooler than that."
"That doesn't feel like the character to me," Harry said. "I mean, I don't think he's an idiot or anything. He knows he's outclassed by his companions but he's still going to try to do whatever he can. Sometimes it's laughably dumb, but it's the best idea he has."
"And you want to play up to that?" Padma asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Harry said.
"I thought you'd want to appear more competent," Daphne added.
"I think he thinks he's competent," Harry said. "And honestly, he might be. He's just outclassed by magic."
"He does manage to get as far as the witches do by himself," Leanne added. "Although we're not given much of an idea on how long that took him."
"Or them," Padma added.
"I always had the impression they found it rather quickly," Daphne said.
"Me too," Harry agreed. "And I suspect he didn't."
"He always felt like an afterthought to me," Daphne admitted. "He's not given the same agency as the witches."
"I guess not," Harry agreed. "I think that might be expected though, given the origin of the story and the general view on Muggles from the era."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Leanne added.
"Well, we have that all sorted. How about we meet again on Thursday after classes end?" Padma asked as she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Fine," Harry said.
"Okay," Leanne said.
"I can't," Daphne frowned. "I promised Marcus I'd help him with his Transfiguration on Thursday night. It's our only free off night usually."
"That is the kind of euphemism I'd expect from Hermione Granger," Padma snorted.
"She'd probably be more excited for the homework than anything else," Harry added.
"Well, you know that a good transfiguration is one of the best ways to show a girl a good time," Padma shot back.
"Interesting," Harry said, keeping his tone as even as possible. "Are you offering a demonstration?"
"We'll see," Padma said. Harry smirked when she looked startled. Leanne and Daphne were both flushed crimson and looking away from the two of them. "How about Friday evening?"
"I'll have to reschedule Quidditch, but I'm sure I can work around it," Harry said.
"Fine," Daphne said.
"Okay for me," Leanne added.
"Great," Padma said as she checked her watch. "I'm going to the library before lights out. Good first rehearsal."
"Me too," Harry said. They all moved to exit the classroom. Padma rushed off toward the library and Leanne followed her as that route was closer to the Hufflepuff common room.
"Why were you flirting with Padma?" Daphne asked as they moved toward their common rooms.
"Was I?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Daphne answered. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him so he turned his gaze away from her.
"Should I not?" Harry asked. Daphne looked like she was ready to comment but then she closed her mouth and stared at him.
"I don't know," she said.
"Well, that's helpful," Harry responded.
"Are you asking my permission to flirt?" Daphne asked.
"No, I'm going to do it regardless of your answer. Just curious," Harry said.
"About what?" Daphne asked.
"Why you care," Harry said.
"I don't," Daphne said, defensively.
"Then why bring it up?" Harry asked. He softened his tone as much as he could, trying to not seem annoyed by the situation.
"The last time students were allowed to put on a performance like this it descended into chaos when a love triangle developed between the actors. The actual performance ended up being them trying to curse each other and it got so bad there's a short chapter in Hogwarts, A History dedicated to it," Daphne said. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him.
"I did not know that," Harry said.
"So why are you flirting with Padma?" Daphne asked.
"You have a boyfriend," Harry said.
"You are flirting with Padma because I have a boyfriend?" Daphne blinked, looking rather bewildered by her own sentence.
"No," Harry said. "But given that you are otherwise unavailable and that Leanne is too depressed to even notice if anyone is flirting with her, I'm not sure how you expect a love triangle to develop."
"That's not nice to say about Leanne," Daphne said, color rising in her face as she spoke.
"It isn't," Harry agreed, hoping to head off the pending scolding.
"She's not worth flirting with because she's sad?" Daphne scoffed.
"That isn't it," Harry said. He felt anger rising into him as he spoke. He had to cut his words off for fear of expressing it.
"Not pretty enough for you?" she spat.
"When she doesn't look like she's about to cry she's prettier than you," Harry countered. Daphne flushed an even deeper crimson and glared at him.
"Then what is it?" Daphne said through gritted teeth.
"I can't," Harry shrugged, hoping the conversation would simply end. In his head he tried to figure how it went from light banter to this.
"Why not?" she asked. Her tone and her eyes both seemed to soften as she spoke. Her look changed from furious to inquisitive.
"I just can't," he said.
"You can quote Shakespeare but can't come up with some words now?"
"Read Shakespeare. I'm not sure I could quote anything unless prompted."
"You get the point." Daphne rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You can do better than 'just can't' so do better."
"It's dumb," Harry said.
"Obviously if it's coming from you," Daphne said.
"Every time I look at her I think of how she failed Katie," Harry said, doing everything in his power to not let anger fill his voice.
"That's stupid," Daphne said.
"I know," Harry responded.
"She didn't do anything," Daphne said.
"Exactly," Harry countered.
"What?" Daphne asked.
"She did nothing. She noticed nothing as her friend, her best friend, was acting stranger and stranger and then almost killed her by getting upset about a cursed necklace and trying to take it away. She did everything wrong," Harry said. He felt his body tense as he spoke and he suddenly felt quite warm.
"She made an honest mistake in a confusing situation," Daphne countered.
"I know," Harry said. "But it doesn't matter. It's all I can think of when I look at her. I can't help it."
"It's not her fault," Daphne said.
"I know," Harry said.
"You're going to have to work on it," Daphne said.
"Then I'd start flirting with her," Harry responded. "Wouldn't want to wind up in that love triangle you're afraid of."
"We need to be able to get along on stage. I'm sure she can sense that you don't like her. I'd guess it's why she was so stiff today while reading the lines," Daphne said.
"I like her," Harry argued.
"Not enough to let her know what happened to Katie wasn't her fault," Daphne said.
"She knows that," Harry said.
"I doubt it. Even if she does it wouldn't hurt her to hear it," Daphne countered.
"If you insist," Harry said.
"And maybe some flirting will do her some good," Daphne commented.
"So now you're pro flirting?" Harry asked.
"A girl likes to feel wanted," Daphne said.
"What, Belby not doing it for you lately?" Harry said.
"I was talking in general, not about me," Daphne said.
"I suppose doing his homework for him is a form of being wanted," Harry said. "Not quite what I'd be hoping for in your shoes."
"I think seeing you in some of my shoes might be entertaining," Daphne scoffed. "Have you ever worn stilettos?"
"No. And I don't think I've ever seen you wear them," Harry said.
"Maybe you just didn't notice," Daphne said.
"I have a feeling that I'd notice that. Especially if you were walking away from me while wearing them," Harry added. Daphne sighed and leveled her gaze on him.
"Why do you manage to make every conversation about my ass?" she asked.
"Well, you brought it up with the shoes," Harry said. "Or is there another reason for wearing heels that I'm unaware of."
"No, I suppose there isn't," Daphne said.
"Aside from steering the conversation away from Belby, I guess," Harry said.
"You seem awfully interested in Marcus," Daphne said as sweetly as she could muster in that moment. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
"There might be," Harry said. He couldn't help but smirk as her eyes lit up with the mere thought that he might be sharing some type of scandalous secret with her. She knew better than to expect him to actually do so, but the thought of it was tempting.
"Oh? What's that?" Daphne asked.
"If my girlfriend wanted to go to Slughorn's parties, well, I'd have gotten her into one of Slughorn's parties," Harry said. Daphne paused, spending a moment looking at him as if trying to determine why he would bring that up.
"The parties that you don't like going to?" Daphne asked.
"Might be more fun if I had some entertaining company," Harry said. "At the very least it's worth some experimentation."
"I see," Daphne said. "I don't think Professor Slughorn is as ambivalent with the guest list as you'd like me to think."
"I'd have found a way. He's so desperate to get me there it would be an easy concession for him to make. I doubt I'd even have to ask. Just say I couldn't attend because the girl couldn't and she'd have an invite in her hands within the hour, I suspect," Harry said.
"So just a perk of being Harry Potter," Daphne scoffed her annoyance at him. Harry paused. He wasn't sure why he'd brought up that specific line of thinking but he walked right into her response.
"I guess so," Harry said. "Still, I think if Belby really wanted to, he could get you an invite."
"And I think he's not Harry Potter and doesn't have that much pull. And I am completely fine with him not using his fame to benefit me. I'm not like that," Daphne said, defensively.
"Well, at the very least I doubt you'll have to worry about it for much longer," Harry said.
"And why is that?" Daphne countered.
"Well, from what I've gathered of our illustrious new Potions professor, he's a bit of a collector of talented and interesting people," Harry said with a knowing nod.
"It seems that way," Daphne agreed with some hesitance.
"I would suspect the four new stars of Professor Burbage's play are going to warrant invites to his next shindig. And it wouldn't shock me if he was waiting to see what our rehearsal schedule looks like before he sends out the next round of invitations," Harry said.
"And how are you going to worm your way out of that one?" Daphne asked. Harry had to give her credit, she managed to keep a passive expression as they talked. Almost as if she was disinterested in Slughorn's parties.
"That will be easy," Harry said. "It's one more thing I have to spend nights doing. So in the end it'll be even easier to schedule Quidditch around it or even to say I've got to spend some time doing my homework. Hell, the homework excuse will probably be true given how much time it seems Padma wants to spend on practicing."
"We are going to need a lot of practice," Daphne said, sounding rather nervous. "It would be rather embarrassing if we got invited and then turned out to be terrible."
"I don't think we'll have to worry about that," Harry said with so much confidence that Daphne believed him, at least for a moment.
"When did you grow a backbone?" Daphne asked.
"I'm not an expert at human development. I'd assume sometime in the womb," Harry answered. Daphne glared at him.
"You know what I mean," she countered.
"I don't," Harry said.
"You're not usually this confident," Daphne said.
"And you're basing that on what?" Harry asked.
"Well fourth year you cowered away from everyone during the tournament," Daphne said.
"As opposed to what, fighting them in the hallway for not believing me? I'd have eventually lost that battle, what's the point of having it?"
"I suppose."
"And it's not like we run in the same circles, Daphne. We've only consistently had what, Transfiguration together?"
"Potions too," she said.
"I tend to repress those lessons," Harry said. Daphne surprised him by actually laughing. It took her a moment to compose herself before she spoke.
"That can't be healthy. Or good for your grade," she said.
"Probably isn't," Harry agreed.
"My mother is excellent with mind magic. If you want I can have her poke around in there before your exams and see if she can unlock some of the work," Daphne teased.
"Careful, I might have to take you up on that offer," Harry said. "Anything to get me out of studying."
"Heaven forbid you have to make an effort for your examinations," Daphne said.
"We wouldn't want that, would we," Harry said.
"Of course not. But I'll make sure to tell Professor Slughorn that you don't need to study and should be able to attend his party that week regardless," Daphne said.
"That's just cruel."
"I know."
"I'm not sure how I'll ever recover," Harry sighed with as much melodrama as he could muster.
"You'll think of something. You'll probably go flirt with Padma, or Granger," Daphne said.
"I wonder if Hermione would even notice," Harry said.
"Women notice, Harry," Daphne responded.
"I'm pretty sure I could walk up to her and ask if she wanted to go find an empty classroom and snog for a few hours and she'd like, remind me my Charms homework wasn't done or something," Harry said.
"That's a solid way of her telling you she isn't interested," Daphne said.
"Fair enough," Harry agreed before adding. "Guess I'll have to find someone else."
"It would be a lot easier to kiss you if you didn't annoy me," Daphne commented.
"Excuse me?"
"We have to kiss at the end of the play. Astoria keeps teasing me about it. I'm going to find it very challenging if you continue to be obnoxious."
"That's not in the script," Harry said, pointedly.
"What? Are you afraid?" Daphne asked, taunting him with the emphasis on the last word. Harry raised his brows and stared at her for a moment before moving toward her. She stepped back as he approached until she was against the wall. Her eyes went wide in alarm as he leaned toward her. He only stopped when his lips were about an inch from hers.
"Do I seem afraid?" he whispered. He looked down at her flushed cheeks, wide eyes, and rapidly rising and falling chest and couldn't help but smirk. He thought he could hear her heart beating in her chest. But he knew pinning her to the wall was, in general, a bad idea. So he took two steps back from her.
"No, I guess you don't," she said quietly, turning her gaze away from him.
"Still, I always pictured the described embrace as more of a hug than a hug and kiss type situation. Not that it really matters to me. That just felt more in line with the tone of the story," Harry added.
"It's a fairy tale, Harry," Daphne said, as if that was obvious and explained every possible thing about it.
"I'm aware. I'm not sure how that matters," Harry said.
"The prince has to kiss the princess at the end. It's like, well, the law of fairy tales," Daphne said, her tone indicating she found it absurd that he didn't understand that.
"I'm not sure anyone would confuse Sir Luckless for a prince," Harry teased. "He does not meet the general qualities associated with one."
"He's a prince to Amata," Daphne countered. "And she's the only one that matters."
"Fair enough," Harry conceded. "Remind me to tweak Belby about it the next time I see him."
"Why on Earth would I do that?" she failed to keep the exasperation out of her voice.
"Because it will amuse me to needle him about kissing his girlfriend. I'm sure I can work in some comments about rehearsals and get him riled up."
"Now you're just being a prick. Don't do that," Daphne ordered.
"You're no fun," Harry said.
"I am plenty of fun," Daphne countered.
"Prove it," Harry taunted, taking a step closer to her.
"I have no interest in being fun for you," she scoffed.
"I'm going to count that as me being right then," Harry said.
"I hope I don't vomit on you out of disgust on stage," Daphne responded.
"You do realize stage kissing is a thing, right?" Harry said.
"Of course," Daphne said.
"So it won't be that difficult to fake it," Harry said.
"But will take more practice to look convincing," Daphne countered. It took more willpower than Harry expected to resist asking if she'd had such practice with Belby.
"I don't know. How hard can it be?" he asked.
"Hard," she said. He stared at her for a moment before he raised his hand to cup her face gently. Her skin was soft and warm as she flushed red at the impact. Her entire body seemed to freeze when he touched her. He was fairly certain she wasn't breathing. And he wasn't sure he was either. He shifted his thumb until it rested just above her lips. He leaned down and pressed his lips to it for a moment before stepping back away from her.
She stared back at him, her eyes opened wide in shock. It only took a moment for anger to rush into her expression as her eyes narrowed and seemed to bore into him. But he shrugged his shoulders and cut off her wrath by speaking first.
"Wasn't that hard," he said. Then, figuring he was about to be scolded, decided to do something he figured Sir Luckless was good at, the heroic retreat. He continued stepping back away from her. After about five steps he turned around and added, "Good night, Daphne."
Author's Note: As always thanks for reading and reviewing. I do apppreciate it. If you would like to support me more you can do so on PAT RE ON at TE7Writes. Chapters do go up a few days early over there for what that's worth.
Thanks again!