4

Come and go…

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"Potter," Daphne said curtly when she saw him. "How did you know I was here?"

"I just took a guess," Harry said. He wasn't going to tell her that he had found her location on the marauders' map. She was sitting in the same place like last time and just like before the library was mostly empty for it being the class hours.

Daphne looked at him for a moment before speaking. "Why are you here?"

"I will be blunt," Harry said. "I know you told me last time that you didn't want to help me but I'm here once again, hoping to change your mind."

"And I want you to know that my answer is still the same," she said. "Call me whatever you want – arrogant, selfish – but we Slytherins take our loyalty towards our house and its principles very seriously. Traitors are not spared. I suppose you can understand why I wouldn't be able to help you."

"Wouldn't be able to?" Harry asked with a raised brow. "That means you would help me if it wasn't for your loyalties?" Daphne said nothing but she had a change of look on her face. Harry smiled, knowing he had found a loophole in her words but he had another tactic that he was going to use and hopefully it will work. He had been observing her for the past few days and had even heard a few things about her from other students – mostly Dean and Seamus. "Wouldn't you do it for the sake of curing your boredom?"

Daphne looked at him with surprise.

"I know why you don't attend most classes," he said. "That's because you've already completed the courses. There is no point in you attending them so you often come here to engage yourself hoping to cure your boredom and I'll take another guess and say that it's not working for you. So I am here with the proposal that will help us both. You help me figure out how I can finish my tasks for the tournament and in doing so you get to distract yourself."

"And why do you think that it will work?" Daphne asked.

"Because the tasks are not limited to what we know but it's to test how we use our skills to complete those tasks," Harry said, "but you know that already so I will get straight to the point. Our first task is to steal an egg from a dragon. I barely know anything about those beasts other then the fact that they are almost impervious to most spells so I don't know how I am going to finish the task. So I thought that maybe you could help me figure out a way. So, what do you say?"

"My answer is still the same," she said. "Even if I wanted to, it's too risky for me and I am not willing to take any chances. Sorry, Potter."

Harry nodded. He turned around and was about to leave when he stopped and looked back at her. "Just one question though," he said. "If you are so much ahead in your studies, why don't you go for the first position?" She said nothing when Harry realized it a moment later. "It's intentional?" he asked. "But why?"

"I don't want to," Daphne said.

"But wouldn't your parents feel proud of you?" Harry asked.

"They know my academic capabilities," she said. "So they don't care what grades I get. According to them, being a capable individual is more important than scoring good grades. It's the skills and knowledge that counts in the end, not how much you scored in your school life."

"They seem like very understanding people," he said.

"They are," Daphne replied.

"Well, you still won't help me?" he asked. Daphne just glared at him. "Okay," Harry said before turning around and leaving her.

She watched him go before focusing her attention back to the book that she had lying open in front of her. However, she kept thinking about the task that Harry had mentioned. Her mind was already looking for ways in which one could face a dragon in a scenario where they had to steal its egg. Dragon eggs were in high demand because of how rare they were. That caused it to be exorbitantly priced, sometimes in thousands of galleons. Some noble purebloods even considered it a delicacy which Daphne thought was disgusting.

The eggs were rare because of the rarity of female dragons. From what she had studied, the male to female dragon ratio was about a hundred to one, meaning that for about every hundred or so male dragons there was just one female dragon. Less female dragons meant less dragon eggs which, when hatched, also consisted mostly of male dragon babies. Because of their scarcity female dragons also sometimes had to face flocks of hormonal males during the mating season. All of this had caused them to develop an angry and volatile personality. In the dragon kingdom, females – of all kinds – were considered far more dangerous than the males. Add to that their maternal instincts towards protecting their babies and you get an impossible task of obtaining the eggs.

However, the tournament's coordinators couldn't be that stupid, she thought. They wouldn't just throw the champions in front of an impossible task, especially in the first round. Which meant the dragons that they were going to use, were probably tamed or they were grown in captivity. Because of their small number the ICW had imposed a ban on hunting female dragons for their hide and other organs. The international body had also established various sanctuaries for female dragons where they were brought up in a safe environment. At some places dragon handlers would even try to tame them or create a more tension-free environment for the female dragons to undergo breeding. Dragons born in these sanctuaries were often more milder in their character unlike their wild counterparts. Also, because of their interaction with the dragon handlers these dragons were much less aggressive towards humans.

But whatever the case, her mind was already distracted and she couldn't focus on the book in front of her which was annoying. She slammed it close before standing up. She hated herself right now as she found her mind going towards what Harry had said. She wanted to find a way…just to quench her curiosity and her bored mind was quivering for it. She sighed before following Harry out of the library. Luckily he hadn't gone too far.

Daphne found him before the stairs' section. Harry had obviously noticed her because the corridor was empty and her quick footsteps echoed throughout the place. The look of confusion on his face slowly turned into a small smile as he realized why she was there.

"No one can know," said Daphne. Harry nodded smiling wider.

"Thank you," he said. "So, when do we start?"

"Tomorrow," she said.

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Harry looked at the map but couldn't find a place that could be private enough to keep his meeting with Daphne safe and away from others' eyes. Fortunately his plan had worked. He didn't know if she would accept his request even after he'd told her about the first task. When she had first denied it again today Harry thought that this was it for him but luckily she had come around and had agreed to help him. However, now he had to pay it back to her by at least making sure that no one in the castle came to know about them. If word got out then things could be bad and while he wasn't worried about himself, he was for Daphne because she was taking a risk by helping him – like she had mentioned before.

And so it was that Harry had the marauders' map opened in front of him as he looked for a secure place where they could meet and discuss how he could perform well enough in the tournament's tasks so that he could get out of them still breathing. However, he found no such place in it.

He knew the map wasn't perfect. Sirius had told him last year that the map only showed places which was known to him, James, Remus and Peter. This is why it didn't show the secret chamber. At first Harry had thought that it was because of the chamber being secure and everything but that wasn't the case. The marauders had put in the places that they knew and had discovered as students when they went to Hogwarts. Seeing that they didn't know the existence of the secret chamber, nor had they gone there it made sense that the place wouldn't show up on the map.

It made him wonder, whether he could use the secret chamber to meet with Daphne. It was very secure and it couldn't be accessed by anyone who couldn't speak parseltongue – which meant that only he could open it. Also, there were still a lot of students who thought that the place was just a myth. However, using it had its own set of problems. The first issue was that the second floor wasn't exactly isolated. Other than the unused lavatory that served as the chamber's entrance, the whole corridor was filled with students and faculty members on working days. Someone would definitely see him and Daphne together and then word will get out.

Another problem was the chamber itself. From entering the girls' lavatory on the second floor to going all the way down to the main chamber it took about twenty or so minutes. According to Harry it was a long time. However, the major issue was the seventy-foot basilisk carcass which lay there in the chamber. He was sure that Daphne would definitely lose it if she saw it. He hadn't been down there since rescuing Ginny in second year so he wondered if the snake had decayed over time. It was unlikely as from what he had read, even after their death a basilisk's body had a lot of residual magic which could preserve its body for a very long time. It depended upon the basilisk's age and seeing that this one was over a thousand years old Harry was certain that it wouldn't have decayed in just a year's worth of time.

So in the end the chamber was a no-go. He still kept it as an option though, just in case he couldn't find any other place which is what it looked like at the moment when Harry heard the familiar pop behind him and saw his elf friend.

"Dobby, what are you doing here?" he asked. Harry was in the common room. With the classes going on there was no one there but him.

"Dobby heard that Harry Potter didn't eat his lunch today so Dobby came to see if he was alright," the elf said.

Harry smiled. "Skipping one lunch wouldn't kill me, Dobby," he said. "I will make sure to come by the kitchen when I'm hungry." The elf nodded with the look of worry leaving his face when Harry thought of something. "Um, you've been living here for over a year now right, Dobby?" he asked.

"I am, sir," the house elf replied.

"Is it possible that you can tell me of a place that isn't known to any student or faculty members?" he said. "I need some quiet and privacy to prepare for the tournament."

"Hmm, there is a place that can serve that purpose," Dobby said. "Dobby can show you right now."

"Alright then, let's go," Harry said as he stood up from the couch when he suddenly found himself in another part of the castle as he looked around in surprise before looking at Dobby who was standing beside him. "Did…Did we just apparate?" he asked the elf.

"We did, sir" Dobby said.

"But apparition isn't possible inside Hogwarts," Harry said.

"To us elves it is," Dobby said.

Harry didn't know that as he nodded slowly before looking around. Harry couldn't remember coming to this part of the castle before but it seemed somewhat familiar. "Where are we?" he asked.

"The place that you were looking for," Dobby said. Harry looked with wide eyes as the empty wall in front of him started materializing into a huge door. A few seconds later the door appeared completely as Dobby walked ahead and opened it.

"Is…Is this a secret room or something?" Harry asked stepping forward as the two entered the place. It was dark inside and he couldn't see anything when suddenly the place was filled with bright light and Harry found himself standing in the Gryffindor common room. He looked around in confusion. "Did you bring us back to the common room, Dobby?" he asked.

"No, sir, it's the room," Dobby said. "We elves call it the come-and-go room and it can change into any enclosed space and provide you with anything as long as you can imagine it clearly."

Now that Dobby had said it Harry did notice that this common room wasn't exactly like the original one. There was furniture missing and the fireplace looked completely new and unused along with a lack of color. Because Dobby had apparated them right away from the common room Harry was still somewhat thinking about that place so maybe that is why this room changed into it.

"So I can make this place turn into anything…" Harry asked, "…as long as it has four walls and a ceiling?"

"You can, Harry Potter sir," Dobby said.

Harry smiled as he thought about the great hall. It was the easiest and least detailed place he could think of with nothing but an empty hall with five long tables – one for the faculty and four for the houses. Once again the room flashed, although not as brightly as it did before and Harry could see his surrounding melt like wax before taking shape of the various things that he had imagined for the great hall and in a few seconds he was standing in a similar-looking place. He had though, forgotten to imagine the celestial-ceiling and the floating candles, along with a few knight statues and carvings on the walls but other than that the place looked remarkably similar to the actual great hall and Harry couldn't help but be surprised.

"This will do," he said slowly as he had a huge smile on his face before he turned to the house elf. "I can't thank you enough, Dobby."

The elf's ears popped up as he blushed at the praise. Harry stayed there testing out the room for another hour. He tried with books and found that the room could provide him with whatever book he wished for. He even thought of a target practicing dummy and found it the next second in front of him. He couldn't believe that such a thing existed at Hogwarts and that no one knew about it. It was probably a good thing, though. He looked it up on the map and didn't find it. He didn't even find himself on the map as he was in the room. The map showed no such room on the seventh floor where he and Dobby were at the moment. There also were no classrooms on this side of the castle which meant it mostly remained free from the student crowd except for maybe a few couples who were looking for a little privacy.

With a huge smile on his face Harry exited the room and saw it disappear until there was no trace of it on the wall. He couldn't wait to show this place to Daphne.

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Thanks for reading…