Unusually for me, I actually managed to keep working on this fic today, and finish another three chapters. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Chapter Four: Talks and Trolls

The next morning at breakfast, Daphne had some trouble drowning out the constant stream of complaints from Malfoy, who simply couldn't believe that Harry and Ron hadn't been expelled yet. Glancing over at the Gryffindor table, she could see that both of them looked tired, but certainly no worse for wear. To her surprise, though, she saw that Hermione wasn't sitting with them, but a fair distance away, looking sullen.

The only thing Daphne could guess what that Hermione hadn't been happy with the nightly excursion, though she didn't really know why. They'd all gotten back to their dorms safely, hadn't they? No harm, no foul. Maybe Hermione just wasn't a morning person if she hadn't gotten enough sleep.

But to Daphne's great surprise, Hermione didn't go near Harry and Ron at all for the next week, eating her meals separately from them and even staying away from them in class.

Even stranger, Harry and Ron, aside from an occasional awkward glance in her direction, didn't really seem to mind the arrangement all that much.

Daphne wished she could find out what was going on, but she didn't get much of a chance to talk to any of the Gryffindors that week. Homework was picking up, and she still had to be mindful none of her classmates saw her being friendly with another House, especially the Gryffindors.

At one particular breakfast, just over a week after their run-in with the dog, breakfast was disturbed by a large parcel arriving, carried by six owls. Even from where Daphne was sitting, she could see by the shape of the package that it was a broomstick — but when it was dropped onto a surprised Harry's full plate, she became intrigued. First-years weren't allowed to have broomsticks, and Harry wouldn't have thought to order one, she was sure of that, which meant that someone not terribly subtle had sent him one, but who would it be, and why?

She shot a suspicious glance at Malfoy, in case this was yet another terrible plan to get Harry expelled, but Malfoy's white, rigid face told her that this wasn't one of his schemes. He grumbled something to Crabbe and Goyle, and when dinner was nearing its end the three of them snuck off.

Daphne followed them as casually as she could, and found Malfoy and his goons loitering around the entrance hall. She was just wondering how she could justify staying around there as well when Harry and Ron came out of the Great Hall and were stopped by Malfoy.

She was too far away to hear the specifics, but judging by the expressions she could see that Malfoy was angry and Harry and Ron were smug. Interestingly, Professor Flitwick then interrupted the conversation, and whatever he said, Malfoy wasn't happy with it. Nor, by the looks of it, was Hermione, who glared at Harry and Ron, exchanged some angry words with them, and then stomped up the stairs.

Daphne checked her watch. There were still about thirty minutes before classes began, and she knew that Hermione would often prepare for the classes of the day in the library. If she wanted to know what was going on between the Gryffindors, she'd get no better chance than now to ask Hermione about it, and she could probably justify being in the library in case any of her classmates saw her.

She made her way over to the library, and while it was a bit busier there than it had been when she first met Hermione, there still weren't all that many people.

Hermione was, predictably, sitting on her own at a table in the back, surrounded by books.

"So, what's going on?" Daphne said without preamble, sitting down on an empty chair across from Hermione.

Hermione looked up with a weary expression. "What's going on with what?" she asked flatly.

"With you and Harry and Ron, obviously," Daphne said. "You haven't been talking to each other at all. At least, not during mealtimes or Potions class. Why not? I thought you guys were friends?"

Hermione winced. "Yeah…so did I." She smiled wryly. "Guess I was wrong."

"Is all of this about that duel?" Daphne asked.

Hermione sighed and closed her book. "The duel, the broom, all of it. They keep breaking the rules…and now they're even getting rewarded for it. Harry's been made the Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Youngest in over a century, apparently."

She made a frustrated sound. "If they're going to be rewarded for breaking rules, what's going to stop them from doing it again next time? And again? Until they finally get caught, and either cost us so many points we'll never win the House Cup again for a century, or get outright expelled. And then what? They'll end up without an education, and the hard work everyone else does to gain points will be undone at the same time. I…It's just…It's not fair!" she said loudly, before clasping her hands over her mouth in shock, glancing over Daphne's shoulder to see if Madam Pince was already coming to tell her off.

Daphne nodded slowly. "Well…" she said, unsure as to what exactly to say, but wanting to try anyway. "Life usually isn't fair. I told you about how a couple of pureblood families make a lot of the policies in the wizarding world, right? That isn't fair either, but it is reality."

She smiled, even though there wasn't really anything funny about it. "The Noble Houses are constantly trying to outmaneuver each other, trying to undermine each other to get ahead."

"Wouldn't they be able to do much more good working together?" Hermione asked.

"They don't care," Daphne said simply. "They care about themselves and the people close to them. Everyone else has to stand up for themselves. If you want to do real good, then you have to be willing to break rules every now and then. What Harry did during that flying lesson? That was good, and right, and I think you agree with that too, even though it was against the rules."

Hermione nodded a bit unwillingly.

"And the duel…I followed the proper procedure. I informed a teacher, and at that point I'd done what I was supposed to. I even got a point for Slytherin out of it. But I knew that Harry and Ron weren't going to let it go no matter what any teacher said. I could have left them to their own devices, but I didn't want them to get expelled, because then Malfoy would win. So I broke the rules and snuck outside to warn them away. So tell me, was that the wrong thing to do?"

Hermione chewed her lip. "I…The rules are there to protect us," she said.

"Some are. I'll agree that the rule not to open that specific door in that specific corridor was, in hindsight, a very good one. But rules are made by people, Hermione, and people don't always have each other's best interests at heart. I grew up in a world where the main objective is to break the rules in such a way that no one can prove you did it, in part because many of those rules were made to ensure that the pureblood families wouldn't be threatened in their rights and privileges. Legally, it's almost impossible to take any of them down, or are you going to tell me that you think that Lucius Malfoy never did anything wrong, just because nothing was ever proven against him?"

"I…don't know that much about him," Hermione said lamely, though Daphne felt that she was finally getting through to her.

"Look, I'm not saying you have to make up with Harry and Ron immediately, or anything. Merlin knows I spent weeks not talking to my parents when I was younger sometimes, if I didn't get what I wanted. And besides, they could've put in a bit more effort to find out your side too. But maybe a normal kid wouldn't think to do that, and I only do because my parents have been telling me that people are selfish and greedy for most of my life. But just…think about it, okay?"

Hermione nodded a bit more vigorously than she'd done before. "I will. Thanks, Daphne. It…it feels good that I've gotten all of this off my chest," she said.

Daphne smiled at her. "Good to hear. Well, I'd better get to class. Good luck today."

She got up and turned around, hoping that the conversation had helped Hermione a bit. Now, if only she could find Harry and Ron and talk to them as well…

It was more difficult than Daphne had hoped to find an excuse to talk to Harry and Ron. Hermione still wasn't really talking to either of them, but she wasn't avoiding them as obviously anymore either, though neither Harry nor Ron seemed very interested in talking to her.

The simplest thing would be just walk over to them and outright tell them to get over themselves already, but she couldn't do that with her classmates already not trusting her.

Eventually, however, she managed to intercept Harry on his way back from Quidditch practice, after a tip from Hermione that he was often the last one off the pitch because he liked flying some extra laps after practice. She waited for him in the entrance hall and waved him down when walked past.

"Hey, Daphne. We haven't talked in a while," he said by way of greeting.

"I know, so it's high time we fixed that," Daphne said with a nod. "But you know who else haven't really been talking? You and Hermione."

Harry cocked his head. "How do you know–?"

"Please. I'm a Slytherin. Watching people from a distance is second nature to me," Daphne said.

"Did Hermione ask you to talk to me?" Harry asked. "She seemed like she wanted to talk to me and Ron again but it's almost like she doesn't dare to."

"She's afraid you'll tell her off," Daphne said. "Did you ever ask her why she's so bent on everyone following the rules?"

Harry shrugged. "Because…she's a bit bossy?" he guessed.

"No, you idiot, because she's trying to look out for you and Ron and the rest of Gryffindor," Daphne said. "I talked to her about it, the morning you got your broom. I explained to her why you can't always follow the rules when you want to do the right thing. But you and Ron are supposed to be her friends, so you really should've been the one talking to her. Or is Gryffindor just as bad as Slytherin in that regard?"

"How is being obnoxious the same as looking out for us? I wouldn't have a problem with her if she'd just let Ron and me do our own thing."

"She's not just looking out for you two, weren't you listening? She's trying to look out for all of Gryffindor, probably because she thinks you can't do it yourself. And frankly, I'm beginning to think she's right."

Daphne sighed. "If you want to know why she's doing what she's doing, ask her. It took me maybe ten minutes to find out what the problem was."

"I– Why are you even so interested in us, anyway?" Harry asked.

Daphne shrugged. "It's not like I have any friends in Slytherin. Might as well try to keep the ones I have elsewhere from ignoring each other for the rest of the school year, especially when the solution to the entire problem is a quick talk. I know Gryffindors don't usually like that much, but what else could I do? Stage a fight with a mountain troll?"

"I'd like to get it on record that I didn't plan this," Daphne said shakily, looking at the unconscious mountain troll at her feet.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were staring at it as well, each still looking shocked at what they'd just done.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Professor Quirrell stormed into the bathroom. Professor Quirrell seemed to have a minor heart attack when he saw the troll — rather curious for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher — and all but collapsed onto a nearby toilet.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" Professor McGonagall demanded in a cold, furious voice. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look, and then turned his glance on Daphne. "I'd like to know the same thing, Miss Greengrass. What are you doing here?"

"This is a bathroom, sir," Daphne replied, leaving the question 'what did you think I was doing' unasked.

"There are bathrooms closer to–"

"I came from the library, the stairs rotated, this one was closest," Daphne said, feeling her face beginning to flush. Did they really need to spend time talking about why she was in a bathroom?! Weren't there more important things to discuss, like why a mountain troll was in the castle?!

"That still does not explain what you three were doing here," Professor McGonagall said suspiciously.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron exchanged nervous glances for a moment…and then Hermione said, "We wanted to warn Daphne of the troll. See, I– I thought we would be able to handle the troll if we found it because I read quite a lot about them."

If Daphne hadn't been so shocked at hearing Hermione, of all people, lying to a teacher, she would have smiled.

"Harry and Ron didn't want to come, but I made them."

"Well…in that case…Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll with just a few first years?"

Hermione hung her head.

"Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses."

Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

"The same goes for you, Miss Greengrass," Snape said. "You get five points for remaining calm under pressure. Now, get to the dorms."

Daphne nodded slowly. It wasn't like she'd done anything in dealing with the troll; that had all been Harry, Hermione, and Ron. She'd mostly just stared, with roughly enough dignity not to scream and the unending luck she'd run into the troll on the way out of the bathroom. Of course, it wasn't like Snape would miss an opportunity to give Slytherin House some extra points.

She and the Gryffindors left the bathroom, and once they were out of earshot of the teachers, Daphne asked, "Okay, what was all that about?"

"Quirrell came running into the Great Hall shouting about a troll in the dungeons, so Dumbledore ordered everyone back to the dorms," Harry said. "I noticed you weren't with the Slytherins — you're not the only one good at watching people — and then Hermione said she'd seen you in the library earlier, and that you might not know about the troll yet."

"So you came looking for me," Daphne said. It felt like a fire had just been lit inside of her. Not out of embarrassment, but…happiness.

"Of course we did. We're not going to let the one good Slytherin in school get eaten by a troll," Ron said.

Daphne grinned at him. "Glad you've accepted we're not all bad. I think you'd like our Prefect too, though. She told off Malfoy on the first day. But…thanks. All of you," she finished softly.

"You too," Harry said. "If you hadn't talked some sense into us, I don't think we'd have worked together to find you."

For a moment, all four just awkwardly stared at each other. Then, feeling it was her turn to be awkward for a change, Daphne held out her hand with palm downwards.

"Officially friends, then?" she asked.

Harry and Hermione put their hands on top of hers nearly instantly, but Ron hesitated just for a moment, seemingly conflicted about being friends with a Slytherin…but then he, too, added his hand.

"Officially friends," he said, sounding as though he didn't even believe it himself.

He pulled back his hand and said, "Now let's get out of here, before anyone sees us."

Yeah, the troll scene remains, but I did want to give some kind of twist to it. But, of course, it's necessary for the plot down the line and I did warn everyone about the Stations at the start of the story. Things will start to change up a bit more from the next chapter, though.