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Situation…handled?

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Harry woke up the next day dreading. He didn't know what was going to happen but it surely wouldn't be anything good. The weirdest thing was that he was more worried about Daphne than he was worried about himself.

"I'll take care of it," is what she said before ending the conversation with him yesterday after Harry told her about what went down between him and Rita Skeeter. Of course she was shocked and he could see it on her face. He felt so bad for dragging her into something like this. This was obviously his fault.

Harry had tried asking her what she meant by 'taking care' of the situation but Daphne told him nothing more. He couldn't sleep the whole night as he kept wondering whether she had a plan because she looked confident for a situation that was potentially dangerous for her. She never told him what she would do and while he surprisingly trusted her he also couldn't help but be worried for her at the same time.

He walked into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. "Stupid," he said, looking at his reflection in the mirror. "First it was Hermione. Then it was Ron and Ginny and now, Daphne. Whoever you get close to they end up in trouble. The punch did feel good though." He smiled thinking about that moment when he had hit a solid one on Rita's arrogant face. A few good things had happened after that. Viktor had seemingly started to respect him as Harry guessed it by the fact that the Bulgarian seeker would now nod at him whenever they looked at each other. Fleur was stunned and stopped looking at him as if he was worthless and, in her own words, a child. As for Cedric, the Hufflepuff met him yesterday evening during dinner and told him how jealous he was, expressing his wish to be the one who had punching Rita. Of course the matter had reached to the ears of the faculty members and the coordinators of the tournament. However, Dumbledore had intervened and all Harry knew was that he was out of trouble.

But the thing that had brought the most amount of happiness to Harry was Daphne's response to when he told her that he had punched Rita. She had told him that hearing something like that was a pleasant surprise and that she was proud of him. However, he had soon ruined her mood (according to him) when he told her why he had assaulted that reporter.

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(Flashback…)

Harry left the empty classroom looking worried as the other champions watched him go. Rita's pain-filled groans fell on their deaf ears as Ludo Bagman came running and audibly gasped seeing the reporter's bloodied nose.

"What happened?" the coordinator had asked, his voice obviously showing anger towards the champions. However, no one said anything. They all just stood there trying to not smile or laugh.

"It was…Potter," Rita said as she wiped her bloody nose.

Ludo looked from her to Cedric. "You…Diggory! Go and call someone!" he said.

"Watch how you talk to him," Krum said walking forward. "The champions should be addressed to with respect."

Ludo didn't want to argue with a guy like Viktor so he took out his wand and did his best to patch up Rita's broken nose. He managed to stop the bleeding but not before splattering blood all over her clothes and face. He apologized to her before lifting her up in his arms and running out of the classroom.

Harry had reached to the owlery by then and had already written a letter to Daphne, asking her to meet him as soon as possible. He didn't say anything else in the letter except that it was an 'emergency'. He used one of Hogwarts' owls as he couldn't use Hedwig because she was recognizable.

He then grabbed his invisibility cloak and the marauders' map from his trunk before heading towards the seventh floor. Daphne arrived about twenty minutes after him and they quickly entered the room before she asked him what was going on.

"I punched Rita Skeeter," Harry blurted out.

She looked at him in shock, blinking a few times. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "How…Is she here…at Hogwarts?" she asked.

He nodded. "She came to interview the champions," he said. "When my turn came, I punched her in the face and broke her nose."

"That's a pleasant surprise," she said with a chuckle. "Good for you, Potter, I'm proud of you. I wish I was there to witness it."

Harry smiled. For some reason that tiny amount of praise coming from her made him feel good. However, his smile soon vanished as he remembered why he had called her there. "Listen, uh…the reason I did that and called you here is because…well, she knows."

"Knows what?" Daphne asked.

"About us…having these secret meetings," he said nervously and immediately saw the look on her face changed. "I don't know how she knows but she threatened to write about it in her article. I got angry and that's why I hit her in the face." He saw her standing there in silence, looking at him with a now expressionless face. "I…I know I made things worse but I acted on my emotions. I didn't know what to do…I don't know what to do. I'm sorry. Daphne, please say something."

"I'll take care of it," she said after staying silent for another minute before she walked past him and left the room. Harry looked at her, wondering what she meant by that. He didn't know if she was angry with him. It was possible that she was because he had messed up big time and even though he didn't know how Rita knew about them he felt like all of it was his fault. It was in a manner of speaking as it was he who had approached Daphne, asking for her help. Had he not done that, none of this would've happened.

He left the room and found the corridor outside completely empty. She was gone as Harry kept dreading what would happen tomorrow. It was then that one of the ghosts found him and informed him that he was summoned by Dumbledore. Harry sighed before he headed towards the head office.

(End of flashback…)

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Harry walked into the common room and saw a third year boy reading the morning Prophet.

"Hey!" the boy expressed his surprise and displeasure when Harry suddenly snatched the paper from his hand. He didn't say anything more though when Harry glared at him. He left his place as Harry sat down there before looking through the pages. Rita's articles were mostly printed in the first three pages and sure enough he found one on their previous day's interviews. She had categorized each of the champions' interviews properly so the readers didn't have any problem reading them. Harry realized Rita must care a lot about her readers; maybe that was why she was so eager to please them with her articles…even if it meant that most of what she wrote was nothing but lies and rubbish.

Harry looked the section where she talked about him. Obviously his was at the top.

'My first conversation was with Harry Potter, otherwise known as the boy-who-lived, or the Chosen One. When the world first came to know that he managed to put his name in the goblet of fire despite the strict rules and regulations of the Tri Wizard Tournament, they were definitely shocked. It was reported later that, Mr Potter claimed he never put his name in the goblet, nor had anyone do it on his behalf. However, with no culprits caught as of yet his statement slowly appears to be nothing but a lie, one of many that he has told to become the center of attention. His first big lie came when he claimed to be the heir of Salazar Slytherin in his second year when a bloodied message was found written on the wall of Hogwarts, (possibly) by him which said that the Chamber of Secrets was once again opened and enemies of Salazar Slytherin were warned.

In his third year Mr Potter reportedly helped the infamous murderer and death eater Sirius Black escape and he later said that the man was actually innocent of his crimes. The world thought that Black had probably used the imperious curse on him to make him say that but I, your Rita Skeeter, knows for a fact that it was Mr Potter's own lie, just like another one where he said he had protected Black from hundreds of dementors on his own. It was funny to me as even toddlers think before they want to lie to their parents. Who would believe that a third year student could fend off hundreds of dementors when even skilled witches and wizards find it hard to handle even one of them?

Coming back to the main topic of his participation in the tri wizard tournament, when I asked him why he put his name in the goblet he told me the same lie that he hadn't. At that moment I realized that there was no way someone could lie as consistently as Mr Potter so I thought that maybe he is delusional. Saying things like he is the heir of Salazar Slytherin, that he faced-off hundreds of dementors on his own – only a delusional person can say something like that because none of it makes any sense.

As for why he put his name in the goblet, Mr Potter told me nothing about it. He sounded like he had no plans for any of the tasks either. It might be that he didn't think this through. Maybe this time his thirst for attention is really going to get back to him in the form of dangerous tasks that the tri wizard tournament will bring. It will be something to see how Mr Potter handles himself in those tasks, that is…if he even manages survives the first one.

Moving on to our next champion, Bulgaria's famous and an international Quidditch star…'

Harry tilted his head in confusion as he wondered why Rita hadn't written anything about him and Daphne.

"I'll take care of it." Those words of Daphne revolved inside his head as he slowly stood up and left the common room, unaware of the many eyes of his housemates that were on him.

Ron was sitting in the corner, smiling as he saw Harry get up and walk out of the common room looking shocked. It seemed Rita's scathing words had hit him right in the heart and Ron couldn't be happier about it. Harry hadn't apologized to him so this was well-deserved. It would soon be before Harry would run back to him, asking for his apology and it would be at that moment when Ron would finally be seen by everyone as someone important. For the last three years he had been living in Harry's shadow. At first he liked it because of the recognition that he got as being called the best mate of Harry Potter but with time he started to hate it as if without Harry he was nothing in the eyes of the people.

He had no respect from his family members. The twins often targeted him for testing their pranks; Percy was too uptight and strict with him, always wanting him to study more so he could secure a respectable job at the ministry. Bill and Charlie were mostly non-existent in his life. They were barely home and whenever they came they would often pay attention to Ginny who was everyone's favorite. As for his parents, they had told him that they had no hopes from him because of how bad he was in his studies. At one time his mother had even told him that if Dumbledore hadn't pardoned his fees, she and his father would never have sent him to Hogwarts because they couldn't afford it. Those words had hit Ron like a tight slap on the face and from that moment on he had lost all respect for his family. As for Ginny, that ungrateful skank couldn't even thank him for everything he had done trying to save her when she was taken to the chamber of secrets. All she kept rambling about was Harry and only Harry – her knight in shining armor who had saved her from that terrible danger.

That was the last time he had had it and he swore he wouldn't remain in Harry's shadow anymore. However, with the dementors and Sirius Black on the loose third year went by pretty fast and Ron couldn't find an opportunity to make a man of himself. So when Harry's name came out of the goblet this year and the boy tried to deny having anything to do with it Ron had found a perfect opportunity to cut his ties with Harry. There was no way Harry was innocent in this matter and the fact that he hadn't apologized about it to Ron was only making Ron madder.

So Rita's scathing article on Harry was positively welcomed by the red head. However, he was dying to know what Harry felt about it. Ron bet he felt terrible, seeing how he had left the common room a few minutes ago. He was positive that it wouldn't be long before Harry would realize his mistakes and apologize to him. And then everyone will realize Ron's value and he will no longer be someone who was only recognized by others just because he was friends with Harry Potter.

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"Are you okay?" Neville asked as he saw the look on Harry's face.

"What? Oh, hey Neville," Harry said coming out of his train of thoughts as he saw Neville sit beside him at the Gryffindor table.

"Are you okay?" Neville asked. "You look worried."

"Oh, I was just thinking…about the article," Harry said.

"She really came after you this time, didn't she?" Neville said, talking about Rita. "Even my grandma hates her. She once told me that Skeeter wasn't a real journalist and she can easily be persuaded to write anything in the paper if she's given enough galleons."

"Galleons?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you know? If she is praising someone in her article, there is a high chance that that person paid her a lot of money for that. It's not surprising or anything. Magical Britain is full of corrupt people, even more so inside the ministry. I suppose you've heard about the rumors surrounding Minister Fudge?"

Harry nodded. It was well-known that Fudge was a corrupt man and that he was on the payroll of people like Lucius Malfoy and other rich purebloods who were once accused of being death eaters or supporters of Voldemort's cause. This is why Fudge was hated by those who had fought against the death eaters and Voldemort fourteen years ago. He was a puppet leader, controlled by death eaters and people with discriminatory ideologies against muggleborns and half-bloods.

It was at that moment that Harry saw Daphne enter the great hall with Tracey before the two sat at the Slytherin table. He kept looking at her hoping that she would look at him but she didn't. He wondered if she was angry with him over what had happened. He also wanted to know what she had done to make Rita not write about them in her article. Harry knew Daphne was responsible for that because nothing else made sense. She had told him that she would take care of it so she must've been behind Rita not writing about her and Harry and he was eager to know what Daphne had done to make that possible.

It was later that evening when he received her letter, asking to meet in the room of requirement. It was after dinner and pretty late as he wondered why she wanted to talk to him now rather than tomorrow. He arrived at the tapestry on the seventh floor and waited for her. She arrived twenty minutes later and was a little out of breath.

"Sorry, lots of assignments," she said. "I came as soon as I was done."

"You wanted to talk?" Harry asked.

"No," she said. "After everything that happened, I thought maybe you would have some questions so I called you here."

He blinked. She had called him here because she thought he had questions to ask her? "How…did you come to that conclusion?" he asked.

"Well, Rita definitely didn't print anything about us in her article so I'm sure you would be wondering how that happened," she said.

"I was," Harry said before he looked at her. She didn't appear to be angry at him but it had always been difficult to read her face. "You said you will handle it. What did you do?"

Daphne remained silent for a minute before she spoke. "When you told me what had happened I had panicked for a moment to be honest," she said slowly. "At that moment I couldn't think of anything. Luckily my dad is a resourceful man so, I wrote to him and he took care of everything."

"Did he bribe her?" Harry asked remembering what Neville had told him that morning about Rita.

"I don't know. Maybe," Daphne said. "I haven't received any letter from him as of yet."

"So you just wrote to him about the issue and didn't hear from him?" Harry asked. "How did you know he would've solved the issue?"

"I just knew," she said smiling. Harry looked confused. "He's my father, Potter and although he has always taught me and my sister to be capable of doing things ourselves we know that he won't ever let us down if we asked his help. Because I do things on my own most of the time, sometimes if I ask for his help he knows it's a serious request and he's always there to rescue me…and my sister."

Harry nodded in understanding before he realized something. "So…does that mean you told him about our meetings?" he asked sounding nervous.

"I had to," she said, "but you don't have to worry about anything. He knows that whatever I do, I do so for a reason and as long as I am safe that's all that matters to him. He knows about the loyalty and rules that exists within my house because he was also a Slytherin. So he knew that this was a serious matter. I don't know what he did to make Rita not write about us but he saved us. I'm sure I'll be getting a letter from him by tomorrow morning."

Harry couldn't believe it. The amount of trust and understanding that Daphne had with her parents was astounding. But then again, that's how a family was supposed to be…according to what Harry thought even though he never had an actual family. The Weaselys were an unorganized mess and Harry hated the Durseleys for obvious reasons. To him neither of the two ever felt like a real family. As for Hermione's parents, Harry had only met them once when she had introduced him to them at King's Cross at the end of his third year. They seemed like good people, from what he had seen in those few minutes of light conversation with them before he had spotted his uncle angrily waiting for him a few meters away.

"I'm sorry," he said breaking the silence between them as Daphne looked at him with confusion. "I got you dragged into my mess. Maybe it's for the best that we stop having these meetings…"

"Just because of one mishap?" Daphne said interrupting him. Harry looked at her a bit surprised. "Wow, for a Gryffindor I didn't know that you'd be a coward. If you still don't know, we are safe. No one knows about these meetings so you can relax, Potter."

"And what if we aren't lucky the next time something like this happens?" Harry asked. "What if the next time it's a student who finds out about us and spreads the news in the entire school?"

"Are you scared?" she asked with a smirk.

"I'm worried…about you!" Harry said his voice a bit louder this time. Daphne's smirk vanished as she was caught off-guard by his reply. "You said you were taking a risk by helping me out. If we get caught, it'll be my fault. I am the one who asked for your help. You shouldn't get into trouble because of me."

'He's worried about me?' she thought as those words revolved inside her head. She looked at him. "Listen," she said after a minute's pause as she composed herself, "even if it was you had asked for my help it was I who decided to agree to your request. Had I not we wouldn't be having these meetings. So…So stop blaming yourself."

Daphne didn't know why she had said it but somehow it seemed like the right thing to say. Her conscience told her that that was the truth. For some reason she had not liked it when Harry had blamed himself for the entire thing.

As for Harry he didn't know what to say. It had happened to him before when he had apologized to Hermione at the end of second year. He had blamed himself when she had been petrified and she had told him the same thing as Daphne…that it wasn't his fault and it was her decision only.

He looked at her and for the first time she didn't appear to be her usual self where she was only thinking about herself. The Daphne he had standing in front of him looked a bit worried and that worry was definitely directed towards him. Harry didn't know how to react to that or what to say so he remained quiet.

An awkward silence filled between them as the two teenagers stood facing each other. It was Daphne who broke the silence a while later.

"We will continue from tomorrow at the usual time," she said looking away from him as that cold expression returned on her face. For some reason Harry felt sad. He had liked it when she looked like a caring person a few minutes ago. "Don't ever say that it was your fault, got it? At best, we are here because of our own decisions so if it's anyone's fault then it's the both of us. It's late now so I will be going. Good night…Harry."

'Harry'. It was the first time that she had called him by his first name. To him it felt like a warm breeze of air as he saw her walk past him and towards the door.

"Daphne," he called her. She stopped immediately before slowly turning towards him. He walked up to her and took out his invisibility cloak before handing it to her. She looked at him confused. "As uptight as your house is, it's better that they don't see you roaming outside this late. Take it."

"Are you sure?" she asked, her voice a little shaky. Harry nodded. She hesitated at first but then took the cloak from him slowly before covering herself with it. She then looked at him and realized, for the first time, how beautiful his eyes were. It was as if they sparkled. His pupils were a little wider than normal considering they were inside a well-lit room. She looked away quickly as she felt a little weird…in a good way. It was the first time that she was feeling something like this so she didn't understand it. It was a new thing for her – the feeling that she had felt at that moment.

"Thanks," she mumbled before quickly turning away and leaving the room.

Harry stood there completely still as he wondered what had just happened between them. He had never experienced anything like this. It was as if he felt a type of connection with her. He didn't know how to describe it but it definitely felt good.

It was a while later that he realized he had been standing there like an idiot, staring at the door. He shook his head, trying to get himself together before asking the room for a clock. It appeared before him and he saw it was a bit past ten. Curfew had already started and he had given his cloak to Daphne. He hoped she reached the dungeons safely before he took out the marauders' map from his pocket and looked for any prefects or faculty members from the seventh floor all the way to the Gryffindor common room. Once he was sure that his path was clear he, too, left the room.

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A/N: So…yeah, what they felt is what you might say young love. It's confusing at first but hopefully it will develop into something beautiful. And as you might have already guessed my lovely readers, that the pairings of this story are a snake and a lion.

I really hope I can bring justice to their characters so wish me luck. Also, do tell me how you liked it. Constructive criticisms are welcome.

Thanks for reading…