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November 23, 1994

Harry was ready. The time had come for him to use all of his recent studying with Daphne and the others: studying that had seen him change from a healing, support-type wizard to a more combat-oriented one. By no means was he close to Daphne's level of combat prowess, nor would he be for the foreseeable future, but he'd improved beyond all recognition. To him, it didn't matter if a majority of the spells had seemed a step or two past the line that most people drew for themselves — any advantage was one that he would use. Just like Daphne had said only last night when she passed along his, as of yet, still wrapped up gift.

He smiled as thoughts of the previous evening started returning to the forefront of his mind and his smile only grew when Daphne stepped out from behind the corner up ahead. It was as if she had been waiting for him… which was more than likely exactly what she'd been doing.

"Good morning, Daphne. Sleep well, yeah?" Harry asked once he was closer, that same smile still on his face as he looked Daphne over; unsurprisingly, she was as beautiful as ever.

"I slept as well as could be expected," She answers, shaking her head before her hand found one of his and started walking them with a tug. "Were you fine once we left? Never mind, there's no need to answer that, not when it's you — you're never scared of anything. I'll expect a good hug and a splendid day at Hogsmeade once you've finished first, Harry."

Harry shook his head and made to speak, but a yawn came out. One that was strong enough to make his eyes close tightly until it was finished, at which point he chose to speak. "If it wasn't for you, I would have fallen asleep in the Chamber after that Basilisk died. I'll promise you a wicked Hogsmeade day too, especially since our last one was spent mainly on books," Harry looked around a bit, a bout of shyness getting to him before he shook it off and tightened his hand around Daphne's as they continued walking towards the Great Hall. "Tracey and Milly are waiting for us somewhere close by, right?"

"Is your girlfriend not good enough by herself?" Daphne asked with an arched eyebrow and faux-bothered look on her face.

He laughed, especially when he saw the minor bags that had sprung up under her eyes. They had been caused because of him, he knew that. Daphne had always been a protector of sorts for him, the first year of his Hogwarts life had seen her in that role nearly daily, but it didn't make him feel any better about seeing her look so worried for him.

"I'd say that's when she's at her best," Harry said quickly, kissing Daphne's cheek to appease the girl back into a look of happiness with only sprinkles of worry mixed in. "Let's have a good, massive breakfast, one that would send Ron to the infirmary… assuming he still eats as much as you said he does."

Daphne's nose twitched as they turned one of the final corners. "He's still as gluttonous as you remember. It's a pity for me that I can't give you those memories and exchange them for something else. I'd gladly get rid of all of them even if I was given something from you about Quidditch."

"Quidditch is absolutely amazing, as you well know by now. Merlin, I still say you hate it because your parents got you interested in that other game. I don't remember what you call it, but it's the fake, smaller version where you're not on Brooms," Harry finished and promptly groaned, rubbing at his upper shoulder as his eyes took hold of an offended Daphne.

"First of all, Harry, you should know that it's not a fake or smaller version of Quidditch. It's not half as barbaric, this game came out centuries earlier and the hoops used in it were sized up for Quidditch use," Daphne lifted her nose and motioned towards the Great Hall entrance where Tracey and Milly were standing. "We'll go and greet your other favourite witches, but just so you know, you'll be playing me in a game of 'fake Quidditch' very soon. I'll show you how challenging it can truly be."

Harry chuckled at Daphne's fiery words and challenge-loving nature. She was perfect to him in so many ways; her personality, the way she protected those who couldn't really help themselves, and how easy it was to lose himself while in her presence. It was like nothing mattered and the outside world didn't exist when he was with her.

If only that much could be true, at least for an hour or so every day.


"I swear, you two are the absolute cutest together. I knew that'd be the case when I first talked to Milly about you two becoming a couple at the end of our second year, but it is so amazing to see it finally happen," Tracey did a happy wiggle in her seat and shot another look at Harry and Daphne. "Come on! You two can't look all angrily at me like that, I'm just saying it's like… like… oh — it's like reading four books and finally seeing the main character date his perfect match."

Daphne huffed. "If you read academic books half as much as you read those trashy novels, especially the Muggle-written ones, you'd have some of the highest marks in Hogwarts."

"She wouldn't be half as much fun as she currently is, either. It wouldn't be worth the trade, not in my opinion," Milly said, speaking up and partially taking Tracey's side. "I mean, come on, Daph. You have the boy you've wanted for a good bit of time, Tracey has her fantasy about the two of you getting together come true, and I get to see you all happy while she gets to joke about it. All of that combined sounds like a win, win, win, doesn't it?"

"Except for the part that Tracey had a fantasy about me and Daphne, yeah," Harry chimed in innocently.

Tracey's eyes went wide open, then… they promptly started shaking along with the rest of her body as full-blown laughter came from her. It didn't start small, it didn't build up, it came out with a loud snort and carried on with gusts of air. In Daphne's words, Tracey was 'ugly-laughing' but even she was letting out the occasional giggle at Tracey's goofiness.

It was hard not to, at least until an announcement was made when the last groups of students filtered in. Professor Dumbledore let it be known that today was the day that the champions would compete in the task, including Hogwarts' own Cedric and Harry. Naturally, the bitterness that people felt towards him for being in the tournament came to the surface and as such, Harry made an exit along with the three witches who constituted his friend group.

There wasn't any reason to be amongst those who so easily disliked him over something he hadn't done in the first place. No, it would only cause issues for him as the time and day progressed, especially if he let it get into his mind. That was when they'd well and truly win, Voldemort too.

"They're all a bunch of gits, aren't they?" Tracey asked, already sounding out of breath as the group of four descended down the steps that led towards the lake.

"We've known that for some time, I thought. Couldn't you think of anything else with how often they've randomly decided to hate Harry here?" Milly shook her head and patted him on the shoulder.

Harry appreciated the gesture and shrugged. There wasn't anything any of them could do about how fickle the rest of Hogwarts was. Least of all while bad things kept piling up at his feet and in manners that left him as the primary suspect. Voldemort was great at that if nothing else; the ability to convince the masses that Harry was horrible while he no longer 'existed'.

I've seen him three times since I've been coming to Hogwarts and nobody but the three people I'm with right this second will ever believe me. Feels unfair, really.

"They don't matter, luckily enough for us. Nothing they do will ever matter so long as they're so easily led by idiots only slightly smarter than themselves," Daphne stopped walking and turned with a fluidity that still impressed him. Her actions made the rest of the group stop too. "We have a good bit of time before that first task starts, and no, I'm not suggesting we pr—"

"What are you suggesting then?" Tracey asked, interrupting Daphne as she bounced from foot to foot with an eager look on her face.

Daphne's nose twitched in annoyance, but she didn't shoot an angry retort at Tracey. Instead, much to Harry's surprise, she shook her head with a bit of amusement present on her face and then replied. "I was going to suggest that the four of us spend however long we have by the lake. We'll not go swimming before you ask Tracey, I simply believe it's the most peaceful, relaxing environment we could spend time in before the task starts."

"I'm perfectly fine with catching a bit more sleep," Harry said quickly, going so far as to transfigure a few large rocks; his skill was well known by the girls, but he still loved their impressed looks when he made such perfect-looking furniture or clothing.

"Dibs on the big blanket!" Tracey said instantly, claiming the thing by jumping on it and spreading out all of her limbs so that she looked like a starfish.

Daphne watched the other girl do that, an unimpressed look flashing across her face when Tracey started rubbing at a sore elbow. Her eyes caught Harry's at some point, and like a siren's song, he moved towards her with little effort. "You knew what I was going to ask?" Daphne questioned when he was standing beside the same blanket as her.

He nodded once with a smirk on his face. "I think I did."

"Oh please, you two have been cuddling for years. It's like it doesn't even count, all things considered," Tracey said, her voice sounding oddly whine-filled despite the muffled nature of it.

Milly chose that time to throw a second pillow on top of Tracey, encircling the girl in the warmth of them. Once that was done and the latter was cooing in contentment, Milly turned back towards the couple.

"She's not entirely wrong, but today is the task and I guess you should get a bit of couples time before it starts. I'll take my thank you in the form of a box of chocolates, you know… after you both celebrate Harry's win with a Hogsmeade date."

With those words said, Millicent was off and Harry was left staring at Daphne.

Nearly an hour later, his vision would no longer be filled with Daphne but with the inside of a tent. One that was filled with two other Champions whilst the last was fighting for their life against a dragon — Hogwarts was a lot of things, but rarely was it uneventful.


One second… silence.

The next second… a deafening roar from the crowd.

Silence would fall again, it was almost like Harry could see them all holding their breaths as they watched Viktor fight the giant serpent. That silence never lasted though, just like it hadn't lasted when Fleur had been facing off against it. It would linger like in a game of Quidditch in those instances nothing was happening, but it would always pick back up again.

He hated it, but he always found himself getting more and more nervous the longer the silence lasted.

"Think he's doing alright?" Cedric asked suddenly, the older boy stopping his pacing back and forth so that he could stop and ask a question whilst only a few feet from Harry.

"He has to be, there'd be crying or screaming if he wasn't. I don't think he'll win though, not with how quick Fleur's battle seemed to last," Harry shook his head, still in disbelief at how quickly the French girl had been done.

It had barely seemed like it had been five minutes by the time they had all come for Krum. The crowd had gasped only once and yelled out the same amount of times. Fleur had done something special or Krum was horribly overestimated, either one had to be the case with how long Krum's task was taking.

"You'll do alright too, yeah? I don't think I've ever heard about anything stopping Harry Potter. Not even the Basilisk back in your second year," Cedric grinned and shook his head, evidently still not truly believing that 'rumour' of Harry's. "Really, mate. Everything alright for you?"

Harry nodded once, doing his best poker face while he maintained eye contact with Cedric. "I've been through some rougher stuff and even if that's different, I had some great teachers. I'm not sure if I'll win, but I know I'll survive — all of us will."

"I'm glad you're confident in the lot of us," Cedric said with a laugh as he came over and sat down on the steps beside Harry, the slight tremor gone from him as he finally stopped his pacing for the first time since the start of the task. "Truly, I know you and the others are going to be fine by the end of this. It's me that I'm not sure of."

"Why's that?" Harry asked with a furrowing of his brows as he glanced up at Cedric, genuinely confused at why such a fierce competitor and legitimately good person would say that about themselves.

"Fleur has all these rumours about fire magic and charms, everyone seems to think she's a prodigy with both. I know that's nothing crazy in comparison to yourself or that Quidditch Star master currently fighting, but that's better than me," Cedric shook his head and leaned forward, seemingly shaking free of whatever had got ahold of him for a few seconds. "I'll need some of that Potter luck I always hear everyone mention."

Harry gave a pointed look around them before he blinked up at Cedric. "I think I'm all out, but if you find any, I'll let you keep it. Merlin knows it's the both of us that need it."

Cedric nodded once and a few minutes later, the tent flaps opened.

Another minute later, Cedric was gone and Harry was left in silence.


Why weren't we further away if we had to backtrack to use this stupid cave to get inside of the arena?

Harry shook his head as he walked along a torch-filled cave, the literal light at the end of the tunnel his only indication that the arena was close. He didn't understand the long walk, but whoever had made it was clearly a horrible person. The anxiety that the walk built, especially since you knew a dragon was on the other end, was horrible.

"I'm ready… I'm ready… I'm ready," Harry constantly repeated to himself as the exit grew closer and the noise of the crowd raised.

I'll use the spells Daphne taught me, I won't do anything stupid like riding my broom and I'll use the thing she got me only in the event of an emergency.

Harry doubted that a small vial of anything would help him all that much and he was confused when Daphne told him that he should never take it when he didn't need it. It wasn't a medical potion, he knew that much, which was why he was left confused.

'You can only drink one, two, three if you're lucky all your life'

That quote stuck around in his head, but it didn't help him determine what the little liquid was.

Harry palmed it, feeling the steel vial in his pants as he made it towards the end of the cave and into the bright outside area filled with stone. Some of that stone looked awfully burnt too, though none of them seemed to have a humanoid outline, which he supposed was very good.

When he stepped out and immediately looked around, scanning for the dragon, he half expected a Greek-mythology-esque situation and announcement. Oddly enough, at least to him, there weren't any loud screeches from the beast and there certainly weren't yells from the crowd or cheers from them as there'd been for the others. Everything was silent, eerily so, it got to the poi—

He had only a second or so to react and chose to dive to the right. It was the right call, as the whole left side in which he'd previously stood was rubble, the tail of an angry dragon seeing to that.

Harry hadn't gotten any sense of warning or indication that the task had started, but it was on. He had to take the golden egg at the centre of the newly built arena and he would do so. With a degree of speed that he didn't know he possessed, he sprinted through the rocks, dodging and dipping to avoid the tail or fragments that it scattered all about.

That could only work for so long before the beast got angry, he knew, and so it was then that he released the second stage of his attack; he turned and fired the first spell he remembered at it. One that would most definitely leave a lingering effect on the poor Dragon for a month at least, but it was all to ensure that he personally wasn't hurt. The trade-off worked well enough for him.

He felt horrible for using it, but the quicker he got in, the quicker the whole task was over and the sooner those dragons were home. It had to be done, and so the first spell he used, which found its mark, caused the dragon to roar in pain as its tail came towards him faster than it had yet done so.

Harry didn't have time to dodge it.

With as quick a motion as he could physically manage, he raised his arm and cast a transfiguration spell. It was silent, his mind focusing solely on keeping himself alive with a wall of solid rock that was feet thick, and it worked. Harry didn't know how he did it, if anybody saw it or if he'd ever be able to do it again, but it worked.

He did it again, and then he moved after casting a concealment charm. Smoke filled the arena as he raced towards the golden egg once more, and as he was doing so, he placed himself under the disillusionment charm. It wouldn't do much to the dragon's nose, but thankfully, that nose wouldn't be usable for a good bit of time. Not with the spell he'd just used on it, hence the pain and increased aggression.

It was — the dragon took to the air and flapped its wings, effectively destroying the smoke and stealing Harry away from his train of thought as he stopped moving. He would have to be quick if he saw the dragon start to blast fire at the entirety of the ground, but if it was keeping an eye out for him, a high degree of stillness was the key to survival. Unfortunately for him, he'd been caught out in the open, two dozen feet or so away from the egg.

If the dragon used fire, he was done, but as time went by and it didn't spot him, the likeliness of fire being employed only grew. Harry was effectively stuck unless he used more smoke which would likely be dealt with very easily, or unless he used another darker spell on the dragon. It wouldn't feel very good for either of them, especially the dragon, but what more could he do?

Harry had to act, and so he did; he aimed towards the sky and let loose the second spell he'd learned. He desperately hoped it would work because if it didn't, he only had one more that he felt comfortable enough to use before he got into the ones that he hadn't mastered or earned even a basic level of proficiency in.

When the dragon again roared and this time began clawing at its throat, or rather, attempted to do so, he knew that the spell had worked. Again, he started towards the egg but this time with the occasional wince as he heard a pained screech. There wasn't any pleasure in hurting an animal, and once he took hold of the egg without any form of issue, he began to cast smoke concealing charms again. Once that was dealt with, Harry removed the second spell even though he hadn't made it out just yet.

The dragon didn't deserve its effects any longer, at least not the second spell. The first spell would go away over time and more importantly, it wouldn't leave any lasting pain. All it did was remove the ability to smell, which worked fine enough for him whilst he was invisible and running… under the cover of… smoke.

Harry stopped running a second later than he should have when he recognised that the smoke had been cleared. He had all he could do not to cry out when a bit of rock crashed into his leg and worse yet, he only barely held onto his wand as he crashed to the floor. The dragon had swung at him, it was still attempting to do so, but thankfully only bits of rock had connected. That wouldn't help him for long, for even if the dragon could no longer smell him or the blood his leg was now letting out, it could still see the colour discrepancy.

He had a time limit now, and on top of that, he had it whilst injured. The only advantage he had was that the egg had remained in his grip with the exit only a dozen or so feet away.

Daphne probably sees the blood, she probably sees that I haven't moved… I have to go, Harry shook his head, bit down violently on his bottom lip when he tried to move his leg, and then started crawling with his hands towards the exit. His leg felt horrible, broken maybe, but certainly horrible.

Bam!

The dragon had struck closer to him this time, its tail only landing feet from his head and on the other side of a particularly large rock. Had it been closer to him by those few feet, he would be dead and his body stuck to its tail for all to see. Harry stopped crawling, recognising it as a poor idea and with sheer determination, he rolled himself over whilst biting down on his tongue — the copper-like taste in his mouth did little to mask the pain of his leg or the shock he felt when he rolled over and saw the thing. It was cut deeply, he could bleed out if he let it go, and so he didn't.

Even as his energy started to drain from his body like the blood was doing from his leg, he managed a basic healing charm, one that saw the skin reconnect and the blood stop flowing freely from him. Dealt with as it was, the healing magic did little to return his blood or fill him with a renewed sense of vigour.

He stood up nonetheless, his energy fading from him rapidly even then, and made his way towards the exit of the arena with his egg in hand. The task was over, completed, and as far as he was concerned, he'd won it. It didn't matter if it got messy, if he'd been hit in the process or if Daphne yelled at him for being reckless.

Harry had survived.


"Are you absolutely certain that you're fine?"

Those were the first words that Daphne had asked him when they'd gotten together again. When the task was over and he'd been announced as the victor by one point thanks to the Headmaster of Durmstrang. For whatever reason, the man didn't seem to like him very much.

Daphne alleged that he was a follower of Voldemort, hence the reason for the dislike. Harry wasn't sure though, even if she did come from a family of Death Eaters herself. Merlin, he still couldn't believe that with how nice she was — you would think the person born from two Death Eaters would be the opposite of how she was. That had to say something about manners or the like in Magical culture.

"Wake up," Daphne said, snapping her fingers in front of his face as her other hand slapped at his cheek. "You worry me when you zone out like that. Obviously, I know you're fine since you've insisted as much every time I've asked, that doesn't change the worry that's innately in me when I see you fight a dragon."

"It would've been cooler if I could tag you in," Harry said with a tired smile, a yawn following shortly thereafter

"I would have loved nothing more than to help you fight a dragon. Believe me when I say that too, as it was only thanks to one another that we escaped that Basilisk — I'll never forget that, I'm sure," Daphne shook her head and then carefully, gently, pulled him closer to her body as she started them off again. She wouldn't mention it and he definitely wouldn't either, but he was happy that she was supporting him in his walking even if his leg was fully healed.

"I'll never forget about anything we've done together. It's been too grand and crazy just to decay in the back of my mind somewhere," Harry laughed and wrapped one army fully around Daphne's shoulders as they continued their walk. "I'm surprised you didn't get mad at me for failing or getting a bit too comfortable. In the past, you would've yelled at me for a few seconds."

Daphne turned her head towards him and rolled her eyes, a bit of redness forming on her cheeks that he could just make out. "In the past, those errors were from carelessness… and maybe our status as partners offers you a bit of leniency. I'd go so far as to say that my parents like you more than most others they've met, and when added to my own feelings towards you, that means there's a minimum amount of time you can spend with me."

"Really?" Harry asked with a grin as Daphne nodded once, confident and beautiful as ever in her confidence.

"Yes. When you agreed to date me, you were agreeing to a minimum time commitment. I'll not have you ditch me, least of all before that Hogsmeade date we were planning," Daphne finally led him over to a bench and eased him into it, reclining against him once he was comfortable. "Go on, rest and I'll keep an eye out for anything problematic. We'll talk about the second task, your victory, the party we'll have for it and everything else there is t—you're already asle… ful."

Daphne's final words were incomprehensible as Harry truly drifted off to the realm of rest.


November 24, 1994

"Hi Harry, congrats on winning and sorry I'm late!" Tracey said, forcing a platter of something into his hands as she stepped through the doorway and into the classroom they'd made their party room for the next few hours. "Oh this looks awesome! You and Daphne did a great job getting it all cleaned up, the decorations were a nice touch too. Right, I have to say, the way you dealt with the dragon was really cool — it screeched and I saw you dive, then you made it screech later and it sounded worse. When I saw the egg was gone after all th—"

"You're talking so much and bouncing from point to point so quickly… it's a wonder you're able to speak without stuttering," Milly said as she came over to stand beside Tracey, her arm pulling on the smaller girl's shirt so that she had to move backwards. "I'll keep Miss Talkative off your back for the first few minutes, at least until you've had a drink and a chance to speak with Daph. She has a game ready for the two of you, by the way. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, I know she will."

That sounds really indicative of bad things to come.

Harry bowed nonetheless and smiled at Milly and Tracey both. "I'll be more than happy to speak with Tracey once I've done Daphne's games. I'd be just as happy to talk to you about that magic arm-wrestling thing you keep bringing up too, Milly."

Milly grinned at him and moved away, dragging Tracey with her while shoving a bit of food into the smaller girl. Tracey loved talking, and while she hated not being able to talk, there was one thing that made that acceptable: food and a lot of it. It was a wonder she wasn't just like Crabbe with how much she ate and how horrible the food items usually were.

"I told you we'd play a game, didn't I?" Daphne asked, seemingly appearing out of thin air behind him.

Harry couldn't help the smile that came to his face when he heard her, so when he turned around with a wide smile on his face, it had a similar effect on her. Daphne, the usually calm and slightly aggressive, over-protective girl that he'd known for a long time had that same smile about her after only a few seconds. He loved how smiley and giddy she got, even if that giddiness inferred more trouble in some instances… like the ones where he did something stupid.

It was a good thing he'd learned that early, Merlin knows Harry wasn't one to do anything too dumb.

"You did," Harry eventually said, then he moved forward to kiss her cheek. "Hi."

Daphne's cheeks got a bit red at the intimacy but she didn't seem to mind it, if anything, the way she moved slightly closer to him when he'd pulled back made him think the opposite. That was a damn good thing too, the last thing he wanted was Daphne not wanting to kiss him.

"It's good to see you, I wanted to make sure we waited a day so that you were rested. You look far better than you previously did, by the way — I'll have to admit I was pretty worried when you were still limping," Daphne's eyes drifted to his leg with a look of concern flashing across her face, but those brilliant, beautiful eyes of hers drifted back up to his own before too long. "If you're feeling up to it, which I understand if you don't, I was thinking we'd play that game. Milly or Tracey likely spoiled it, but I spent roughly an hour preparing."

"I thought you wanted me to rest?" Harry asked, a small grin on his face as Daphne scrunched up her nose.

"I did, and you did. Don't you remember waking up with your head in my lap? If you're not up to it, that's fine. Your health means more than a game, though I'll likely have to trounce Tracey in your place," Daphne's tone was serious until that final remark, at which point she smiled with a viciousness that he seldom saw; the competitor in her was out, and it wanted blood tonight.

Harry wanted to see Tracey take a loss considering how fun that always was and how heated she usually got, but he decided against that. Daphne had put forth the effort and he wasn't talking about the hour she'd spent preparing the game. No, it was only thanks to Daphne that he had survived. Tracey and Milly had helped, he wouldn't deny that, but it was mainly thanks to Daphne that he'd learned spells well out of his usual comfort zone.

"I'll play with you," Harry paused and rubbed at the back of his neck then. "Uh, there is one issue though."

"Yes, I'll be telling you the rules and explaining how it works," Daphne moved up to him, her front just about pressing his as she patted his cheek with that same earlier vicious look that'd been directed at Tracey. "When I beat you, Harry, it'll only be because I do so fairly. Come."

He didn't get much of a choice before she pulled him along at a much quicker pace than she usually used to walk with. The obvious feelings of excitement she had towards the game were incredibly cute, and that was exactly why he didn't mention it. Daphne would probably have cursed him with something, she hated being called 'cute' even if she recognised it was meant to be a compliment or in Tracey's case, an intentional attempt at bugging her.

Harry's excitement waned for a moment when he saw the next classroom over, for it was completely bare of anything that resembled the former meaning of the room. Where disks used to be, there were large hoops similar to that of Quidditch in placement but with many beams all around them. Some were larger than others, and a few of them could be jumped over or slid under, but all in all, moving freely around the room would be an incredibly difficult task.

Well, this will definitely be an interesting game, won't it?

"I do hope it's not too intimidating, the sport is already poorly treated as it is," Daphne said, acknowledging that she caught his earlier look and teasing him for it. "This isn't half as difficult as one would think and truly, Harry, your physicality from Quidditch is a hefty advantage. Half of the game depends on your cardio and ability to push yourself whilst the other half lays completely on your wand skills."

"Good thing you're dating Harry, you'll impr— Daphne, that could have really hurt if it hit me!" Tracey was cut off right before she could finish her sentence but all of them knew where she had been headed and Daphne hadn't let her get to it with a quick summoning of the chair directly behind Tracey.

Tracey really was lucky it hadn't hit too, else her butt may have been broken from the violence of its impact on her.

"You'll use banishing charms or levitation charms, either that you deem necessary for the task at hand but never summoning charms. They were previously allowed, but the games went on far too long if a team had a good enough Keeper in goal," Daphne then motioned towards the centre of the room where a circle was drawn and next, towards a wooden barricade. "We'll begin the game in the centre, when Millicent calls it. Tracey and Milly will be behind the barricade for cover so they don't interfere or get hurt… yes, that's directly at Tracey and her inability to do anything physical."

Harry and Milly each laughed when Tracey made an indignant noise, that laughter continued when the 'offended' girl didn't deny it. All of them knew Tracey was horrible at everything physical despite her love for flying, sports and the outdoors in general. It was very funny, somewhat saddening and a constant area to tease the girl in.

"So I aim for the hoops, any hoops, and use banishing charms or levitation ones. That seems easy enough, but what are the rules and is it only one ball on the field at once?" Harry was in his serious, competitive mode that never failed to activate when he played a game outside of the tabletop genre.

Daphne's smile at his questions showed that she wasn't bothered by them and that if anything, as was usual of her, she was very happy that he seemed as interested as he truly felt. Such was their relationship long before they had started dating, as questions could only ever mean furthering one's knowledge, be it in a studious fashion or a more personal understanding of your companion.

"The rules are incredibly simple; play stops once all of the balls have gone through a hoop, you'll know they do so when their animation cancels itself. No magic other than the approved banishing or levitation charms may be used, there's a further restriction regarding the strength of your charms to eliminate any risk of injury," Daphne placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you ready to play?"

The challenge in her tone, the mirroring of that challenge physically manifesting across her body and the 'ooooh' Tracey made Harry answer almost instantly.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Daphne's smile turned maniacal and when he heard Tracey's sigh, he knew he would be in for a long game.


The first game lasted for slightly under five minutes. Harry would say if asked that he thought he did well — good even — but when compared to his girlfriend those words could never be used for her or in regards to his actual level of play. For in all actuality, it was a mismatch to the worst possibility.

Eleven balls were on the field and out of all of them, he had scored once at the very start of the game thanks to his spell hitting a ball that Daphne had previously sent towards his goal. It was a deflection that worked in his favour and one that caused a great shout of frustration from Tracey the onlooker — Harry would find out after the game that the few times she had played Daphne, the results had been a resounding eleven to-nothing in favour of the blonde witch. Still, be that as it may, Harry felt no satisfaction.

Daphne had moved gracefully, swiftly, and expertly and her usage of those charms was nothing short of amazing when compared to the difficulty that she usually cast those types of spells with. Merlin, Harry found it hard to edge her out in the practical side of things despite his focus on those fields and that was saying something. Especially when most of their peers and Professors saw him as a prodigy in that school of magic.

"You didn't do bad, Harry," Daphne said, a small grin on her face as she swept a sweaty lock of hair from the middle of her face and over to behind her right ear where it stuck. "Tracey has never made me move around as much as you did and I've certainly never been overwhelmed as I was when you fired that initial burst of spells."

"Oh please, you're being too nice and we know it. You trounced me, completely and utterly," Harry said, not all that mad as he walked the remaining distance to Daphne so that he could kiss her cheek and give her a side hug.

"Trounced? Trounced?!" Tracey stormed out from behind the wooden barricade and over to Harry until she was stood directly in front of him. "You scored against her! I haven't done that in all of my life and we've known each other since early. Sure, we didn't really know each other, but that doesn't matter. Daphne only plays this when we visit and across all those years, nothing, no points, nil."

Laughter followed Tracey's words, laughter that only picked up when she stomped her foot and stuck out her bottom lip in a pleading manner. It was hilarious far longer than a majority of her jokes were, but he wouldn't tell her that. Not when her day was as bad as it already was if you listened to her.

"Harry," Daphne eventually said when the laughter died down and her breathing had steadied itself. "Round two? We both know Quidditch typically lasts far longer and I'm sure that you have the stamina for another game now that you understand the rules… I suppose that's only if you could handle a second loss. This is your party, after all, and I wouldn't want to beat you twice on the same night."

Millicent rolled her eyes and made to speak, but Tracey cut her off while oddly enough already moving towards the direction of her cover. Harry didn't understand until she spoke her sentence, and then he understood very much why that was.

"This is a weird form of foreplay."

Those were the words that came out of Tracey's mouth and those were the words that he didn't understand. Well, not initially, he wasn't that dirty-minded contrary to what Tracey might say.

"Make sure you hit her and only her, Daphne. Those comments are hers and hers alone because we both know I don't care what you two do," Millicent said with a sigh and shake of her head as Tracey stuck her tongue out from the relative safety that was her wooden cover.

"I'll make sure I get her when you won't be at equal risk. It's far more fun for me when she doesn't see it coming too, so I suppose you have that going in your favour too," Daphne replied, a viciousness in her playful demeanour that tended to come out from time to time — he didn't mind it though, in his mind that bit of darkness that Daphne mixed in her playfulness was ho—attractive.

Harry shook his head and mouthed a few words to Tracey while the other two girls were speaking with one another.

'Daphne's going to get you back for that', he said to Tracey, but the girl didn't get it. He knew that because she gave it away when she called back to him loudly, clearly and with one word.

"What?"

Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes, his feet already taking him towards his starting position. He wouldn't feel bad when Daphne got her revenge. Not after he had tried to help Tracey; her lack of an attention span and the quick wit that so often helped her would occasionally do as it did tonight, which screwed her over.

"You ready?" Daphne called over to Harry, half a minute later when she was in her starting position.

He nodded resolutely and clenched his fist around his wand, his body already angled slightly to the left for when the game was called ready. Obviously, he wouldn't be able to beat somebody like Daphne who had played the game for years and years against varying challengers. That much was known to him after that first game, but what he could do was give her a run for her money and if he could manage that and that alone, he would emerge victorious in his mind.

"We know the rules, we don't need any of the talking like before," Milly said from her spot in front of her and Tracey's cover, her wand in her hand now aimed towards the eleven balls in the centre. "Five… four… three… two… one…"

When the balls began to move right as Millicent said their activation word, Harry jolted to the right, in the opposite direction of where his body had been angled. Daphne's initial shock and late counter-move worked exactly as he had intended, for deception was something none of the three witches considered within his skillset. In all fairness towards them, he agreed by and large, but that was very useful in these types of instances.

Daphne hadn't expected it to be a feint, he hadn't intended to make it be so initially which helped his bluff and because of that, he was up early with the initiative in his hands. Harry cast spells in a volley as he had done previously, and as before, nearly all of them had been accurate to the point that Daphne was on pure defence so that she could keep him from scoring. He expected her to fight tooth and nail to prevent him from getting an early lead, but that wasn't what she said.

For whatever reason, one that caught him as equally off guard as his early ruse had done to her, she let four of them go harmlessly through her goals and while he continued his volley, she counter-moved by doing the same to the balls on the opposite side of the impromptu pitch. It was late, her quickness and silence in using the spells helped, however, and within seconds only two balls were left in play.

Five had gone through her goals, four had gone through Harry's and those final two were all that remained. Daphne's expression of surprise, one that was still semi-present on her face despite the level of focus she was holding was very pleasant to look at. There was never a time that she wasn't pleasant in the eyes, but when he truly impressed her or did something similar as to what he just did, the way her eyes lit up and the true acceptance or respect that shined within were a treasure that Galleons couldn't buy.

Tracey, Millicent and the others would give him that look more often or sometimes less often, but it never meant quite as much as it did when it came from Daphne.

"You're improving much too quickly at this," Daphne said, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she danced about the pitch whilst sending many a ball in his direction.

"I'm…," Harry stopped to send a ball off a pole in the room, intercepting it and using geometry to bounce it towards one of her goals. "Learning."

Daphne smiled at him, her teeth flashing as she agreed with him. "You are, but I have a record to uphold — sorry."

With that, the game turned more serious and Harry dove to the side, using his shoulder to block a ball from entering the goal. That action was allowed so long as his hand never came into contact with it, but Merlin did it hurt and cost him. Not two seconds later and whilst he was still on the ground with that ball rising up off of it, the other in play sailed easily through one of his goals.

Tracey cheered loudly, Milly remained indifferent and Daphne's shoulders sagged ever so slightly. The tie they now found themselves in likely put her at ease, especially since it meant a one-on-one with pure skill in this game now having to shine through.

Harry jumped up and sent the ball off the centre pole, then he counter-spelled himself so that it bounced near Daphne's feet. The action surprised her just as his first did and really, he thought he'd had it when her body was already moving towards the opposite side. He should have had it too and he knew that he would have if his opponent had been Tracey.

There was no way Tracey would have used the flexibility and finesse that Daphne did, that being to kick her legs up to redirect the ball, even half as successful. It was impressive enough that he paused, for the affection he felt towards her grew even higher when he realised they were more alike than they already thought they were.

That was all the time she needed and when her feet next touched the ground, it was with her smiling victoriously at him.

"That was a very challenging game, Harry, and perhaps the most fun I've had in a long time," Daphne said as she hurried over to him, her hair all over, her breathing rapid and a slight sheen covering all of her exposed skin.

"It was wic—" Harry couldn't finish the sentence before Daphne's arms were around him and her lips were on his.

Their equal height made it easy, the speed their hearts were beating somehow raised their intimacy just as the game had done and th — Tracey… Tracey's sounds cut like a sharp wind through a cloud of smoke and made the two shy teens pull apart.

Daphne's blush and Harry's excessive need to look anywhere but at the other two witches would come up for weeks to come after their snog session.