Chapter 3

They Don't Know About Us

The evening was a peaceful one and Daphne was able to put out of her mind the disappointment she'd felt earlier about not attending the Quidditch World Cup. She had to admit that not constantly worrying about someone hexing her was a great relief. And not contemplating ways in which she could hex Harry actually gave her time to relax.

A couple days of respite were just what the doctor ordered. Whether it was the lack of stress or the new ointment her mother made, Daphne's acne had already cleared up considerably. So she had at least one thing to be happy about.

One morning, she heard voices from the kitchen as she got closer.

'Have you thought any more about what to make of Harry's dream?' Raquel asked.

'Oh, I've thought about it plenty but I haven't come closer to any conclusions. Just don't know if it was just a dream or some sort of vision. I'm afraid only time will tell,' Sirius replied.

'Hopefully, it's nothing.'

Daphne took this moment to enter the kitchen.

'Hopefully, what's nothing?' she asked, knowing full well her petition was likely to go unanswered but it might make it seem like she hadn't been eavesdropping.

Both her parents had the face of someone caught with their hand in the cookie jar, though that quickly changed.

'Oh, it's nothing, dear,' her mother responded.

As expected, they weren't going to willingly give her any more information. That's just the way adults operate. Might as well move on.

'So, what do we have planned for today?' Daphne asked.

'Oh, nothing special but we should head out a bit early,' Sirius replied and even Raquel had a look of surprise on her face at the comment, this wasn't something they'd planned together. Daphne smiled. She liked Sirius' surprises, well, all but one of them.

'Sounds good to me,' Daphne said excitedly as she ate quickly and ran to her room to begin her preparations for the day.

She returned to the living room to her waiting parents.

'Perfect timing,' Sirius said, holding out a raggedy old scarf.

Daphne recognized it as a Portkey. She looked at her mom with a big smile, if anyone would give away something about the surprise, it would be her mother. 'Where are we going?'

'I don't know, dear. Sirius won't tell me,' Raquel answered.

'Can't risk spoiling the fun of the surprise,' Sirius claimed. 'Just grab hold, it's about to leave, with or without you.'

Daphne and Raquel grasped the scarf and a few seconds later the spinning started. They landed in an open field and there were other sets of witches and wizards scattered about.

'This way,' Sirius called out as Daphne and Raquel were searching for something to give away where they were, there were no identifying objects in the near vicinity.

'Still not gonna tell us?' Daphne asked, trying to sound perturbed.

'Nope, you're just going to have to see for yourself,' Sirius replied.

They reached the top of a hill and a view of a large campground came into view. Tents were lined up all over, this was a large gathering. Lines of people were walking towards the campground from other directions and off in the distance, beyond the campground, she could see the profile of a stadium.

She looked to her dad, who was staring at her with a large smile. He was definitely enjoying the shocked expression on her face.

'The World Cup?' she asked, if only for lack of anything else she could think to say.

'You didn't think I would miss the first World Cup since I've been free? One that is taking place in my own backyard?'

'I just—You never said anything.'

'And miss this priceless expression on your face? I'm going to go ahead and say I made the right call,' Sirius said, self-satisfied.

'This is a very nice surprise,' Raquel said pleasantly. 'But where did you get the tickets, dear? This has been sold out since before you were officially free.'

'While the public still isn't quite sure about me, there are some in the Ministry that feel I was wronged and were willing to help me get some tickets, some mighty fine tickets I might add,' Sirius answered with his roguish grin. 'Let's go, we have a fair set of stairs awaiting us.'

Sirius was right about how the public perceived him, it was his main reasoning for why they never visited popular wizarding locals. He didn't look the same as his wanted posters—good eating and sleeping had changed his appearance a little—but there were a decent amount of people that recognized him as they walked. Most of them shared whispers about the Azkaban escapee but of the comments that were audible, the majority were not favorable. Some didn't believe his innocence, and some thought he was too damaged to be about in public.

Ignoring comments was something the Greengrasses were used to, so this walk across the campground wasn't exactly taxing. Very few people seemed to recognize Raquel and Daphne, how they would perceive any relationship would be up to their imagination. Sirius and Raquel hadn't hidden their relationship but by not venturing frequently into common magical places and by not broadcasting to the world, their arrangement was still hardly common knowledge.

As they were making their way up the stairs of the stadium, a flash of red hair caught Daphne's eye on the stairs just one section over. She scanned the group and, sure enough, mingled in with all the redheads, was a little twit with messy black hair.

She continued to glance over regularly and eventually caught the eye of Harry. As if his shocked face wasn't satisfying enough, she sent her own smug smile in his direction. She looked away before Harry had a chance to respond and made her way up the stairs with a pep in her step.

They reached the box and Sirius introduced them to a few of the Ministry officials and their families they would be sharing the box with. Daphne didn't pay much attention, she just wanted to watch good Quidditch. She hadn't even decided which team she was going to support, maybe she'd just enjoy the match without caring who won.

The match began and she was not disappointed with the level of play. It was such a contrast to the school matches, those would never quite be the same now. She found herself cheering for Ireland based on their style of play. She would admit Krum's ability on a broom was impressive. . . but he was a Seeker, and that had never been her favorite position. And her recent quarrels with Harry had only made her more conscious of that opinion. And that made it hard to cheer for Krum—who essentially was Bulgaria.

Krum caught the Snitch, even though his team couldn't win, classic Seeker move, she thought. Though, with the way the match was playing out it was just putting a stamp on the inevitable.

After the match, one of the families invited them to come to their tent for some refreshments, which they accepted. There were only adults present, so Daphne was rather bored, even if the food was quite tasty.

So when the ruckus began outside, she was the first one to notice and was the first one out of the tent to see what was going on.

Many of the groups left once they saw what was going on. Sirius wasn't particularly keen about hanging around either, he knew there were some Death Eaters that wouldn't mind taking a free shot at him.

Raquel was the one who wanted to stay and help those in need. So together, they made their way around to places that had been damaged and helped people get their bearings.

All activity stopped when the screams rang out. A quick look to the sky and it was obvious why the screams began. . . the Dark Mark.

She'd heard of the Mark but obviously, never seen it. She knew it was evil, it just didn't elicit quite the same visceral response from her as it obviously did from her parents. Their faces told her everything she needed to know.

'Daphne, let's go! We're leaving,' Sirius stated with no room for debate. Even Raquel seemed to be in agreement as she gently took Daphne's hand.

'I hope it's Harry they got,' Daphne said casually.

'Keep dreaming, honey,' Sirius said with a chuckle.

'What, you think he's invincible?'

'No, but he has a knack for staying alive and I doubt he's even around. He's with the Weasleys, they are plenty capable of taking care of their group.'

'That's what you think, but if Harry's anything like what I know, he is right in the thick of things under that Mark. But somehow, he'll come out the hero,' Daphne said with spite.

'Perhaps. But we really should get a move on,' Raquel said anxiously. 'We can learn the news from the Prophet in the morning.'

They all linked arms and Apparated away.

The next morning Daphne entered the kitchen to see her parents calmly eating breakfast. Her eyes fell on the newspaper sitting on the table. She gave her parents a questioning look.

'It's just your classic Prophet article, a whole bunch of vagaries, you have no idea which ones are true and which are rumors,' Sirius stated.

Daphne's questioning look didn't change much.

Her mother picked up on her query. 'No confirmed deaths.'

'So you're saying there's a chance. . .' Daphne said with hope.

'Don't get your hopes up,' Sirius said with a laugh.

Daphne grabbed the paper and started reading. Ministry official says. . . boring, of course they are going to say everything is fine, wouldn't want to look bad. But this part, bodies carried out of the forest. . . now that was interesting.

She looked up from the paper. 'Says they found some bodies in the forest. Could be Harry.'

Sirius smiled, 'I told you, don't trust anything you read in there completely. You think the Weasleys wouldn't have let me know by now if Harry was dead?'

Daphne shrugged. 'Maybe they were the other bodies,' she suggested.

'I doubt it but it's not a bad idea for me to check on them. I'll be back in a jif.' He left with a nod that Raquel returned in kind.

She couldn't decide if Sirius being gone for a long time was a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing she settled on, was that Harry was involved in something. . . Unless they were just telling stories about the match and the activities surrounding the World Cup in general. Or was Sirius mourning over the dead body of his godson, the thought didn't bring quite the joy that she thought it would.

She was broken from her conflicting thoughts as Sirius returned, his smile was enough to know he hadn't been mourning.

'Well, I'm happy to report, Harry is very much alive. A bit more involved with the situation than I would've preferred, but no worse for the wear,' Sirius stated.

'I knew it! I knew he would get mixed up in the action. . . just can't help himself. I'm just surprised he didn't get his name in the paper somehow,' Daphne responded.

'Yeah, and as far as anyone over there knows, there were no deaths to speak of. So trust that paper at your own peril.'

Daphne nodded, but inside, even she wasn't convinced that part of the article was completely false.

The last days before it was time to return to school passed pleasantly. It was even more enjoyable than the first weeks of the holiday for Daphne, now that she had the time with Harry around to compare it to.

Before she knew it, the day to return to Hogwarts arrived. She said goodbye to Sirius at home, they decided they'd been seen in public together enough and him at the platform might cause too much of a stir to be able to ignore. He assured her that Harry wouldn't spill the beans that he was her father, not that she was ashamed of it, but she conceded that the attention wouldn't be positive from her classmates.

She was relieved that she was able to avoid any run-ins with Harry as she located the compartment with her couple of friends. Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode had become friends more out of circumstance than any common interests. They were all outcasts of sorts in their House; Tracey for her half-blood status, Millicent for her looks, and Daphne for her financial status. As they got to know each other, their differences became less substantial and they became true friends. So Daphne felt a little bad that she couldn't tell them all the specifics of her summer, there was no way she risk it getting out that she had lived with Harry Potter for the majority of the summer.

Daphne and Harry did an admirable job of ignoring each other at school, sure they shared a look here and there, but for a couple of teenagers, they did surprisingly well at keeping those looks inconspicuous enough not to draw any attention, even from their closest friends. That all changed the night the Triwizard Tournament officially began.

Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire and the Hall went silent. Harry didn't immediately move but after another prompting from Dumbledore, he started making his way forward amongst a myriad of whispers and speculation.

'How do you think he got his name in the Cup?' Daphne heard someone ask down the table.

Daphne seethed. Look at his petrified face. That wasn't the look of someone that had just outsmarted Dumbledore. No, that was that face of someone who just shat himself with fear.

'He didn't put his name in!' Daphne proclaimed. 'It's just another dose of Potter's dumb luck.'

'No, he cheated,' someone yelled out in contradiction.

Idiots, Daphne thought. But if they wanted to believe he cheated, so what, she could use that.

She grabbed a basket of rolls and jumped on top of the table, yelling 'Booo!' at the top of her lungs. She began rifling off rolls in Harry's direction. Many missed and hit Gryffindor students, and even some Ravenclaws on the table beyond him, but a few of them connected. One hit Harry square in the side of the head and knocked off his glasses. 'Take that, you cheater!'

By the time she had emptied her basket, food was already flying back in her direction from the Gryffindor table. It didn't take long for the other tables to get involved as well and the Great Hall was in a full-blown food fight.

Harry had ducked down to pick up his glasses but Daphne didn't lose track of where he was and continued sending projectiles of food in his direction.

Eventually, Harry popped his head up and looked in Daphne's direction.

She shot him a glare and shouted, 'Fleur's gonna fry your ass!'

Harry smirked at her and sent two birds in her direction. He turned his head to continue on his way before he could see her two-fingered response.

Daphne had barely paid notice to the objects that had hit her while she'd been distracted by Harry; they'd bounced off her without doing a bit of damage. So, she'd failed to realize that her position, standing on top of a table, was only asking to get hit. She cursed herself for the oversight when a glob of mashed potatoes smacked into the side of her face. The angle at which it hit sent the food all the way up her ear canal, she swore she kept getting flakes of dried potatoes out of her ear for the next week and a half, a constant reminder of how stupid Harry was—it was always his fault, not hers.

She turned to look in the direction of where she thought the potatoes came from and saw Ron Weasley high-fiving Dean Thomas. One of those two, then.

She hopped off the table, wiped off as much of the potatoes as she could for the moment, and continued in the food fight, throwing most of her objects in the direction of Ron and Dean.

The food fight was put to a stop when Dumbledore emerged from the antechamber to give his announcement regarding the tournament. Students all over were wiping food off their faces and clothes and shaking food out of their hair, the showers would get a workout that evening.

It was the day of the first task and the entire student body was walking out towards the stands that had been erected for the occasion. Daphne was walking with her two friends.

'Dragons. Did you hear they have to fight a dragon?' Millicent asked.

'Dragons?' Daphne breathed.

'Where'd you hear that?' Tracey questioned.

'I overheard Draco telling Pansy,' Millicent replied.

'Dragons,' Daphne said softly again. 'Potter is so dead.'

'That's what Draco said,' Millicent added. 'He was making bets about how long he would last.'

'I hate to be in agreement with that ponce, but on this one, I think I am,' Daphne said somewhat remorsefully, it stung to be on the same side as Draco.

'I'd never side with Draco over Potter,' Tracey interjected. 'I mean, so he's a Griff. . . at least he's cute.'

'He is not!' an incredulous Daphne proclaimed.

'Oh, come off it. His eyes, and his cute lopsided grin when something miraculously goes his way,' Tracey said somewhat wistfully.

'Exactly! That's my point, everything he has is because he gets lucky,' Daphne declared.

'He could get lucky with me,' Tracey replied.

'What?!' Daphne cried.

'I'm just saying, there are far worse boys out there to get with. And you are looking at this through green-colored glasses. We're never going to go out with someone from our House based on how they treat us. We might as well come to terms with that and broaden our horizons.'

'She has a point, Daphne,' Millicent said. 'The Slytherin boys don't give us the time of day and there are some really nice boys in the other Houses.'

'Ok, well, Potter isn't one of them. And none of that stuff changes that he's likely to die today,' Daphne said.

'Maybe so. . . or perhaps he'll get lucky,' Tracey said with a cheeky grin and a chuckle.

'Potter's dumb luck,' Millicent added, causing Daphne to dry heave and make her friends laugh even more.

They watched as the first three contestants bested their respective dragons and Harry entered the arena. They had the perfect view of him as he cowered behind a rock to save himself from the dragon's fire.

'Look at how scared he is,' Daphne stated. 'It doesn't even look like he has a plan.'

'I'd be scared too if I had to try and steal a dragon egg,' Tracey said.

'Look! He has his wand out. He's doing something,' Millicent said with hope.

They watched and waited, and waited, and waited, along with the rest of the crowd.

'Did he say a spell?' Daphne asked.

'Look! A broom. Looks just like your Firebolt, Daphne,' Tracey said excitedly.

Daphne made a small grunt. She did not like the comparison between herself and Harry.

'Is he really going to try and out fly a dragon?' Millicent asked rhetorically.

'Don't know, but he sure looks cute on that broom,' Tracey said.

'Get a good look, 'cause this might be your last,' Daphne quipped.

They followed Harry's stunts and the dragon hot on his tail.

'He's gonna do it! No last look after all,' Tracey cried.

'Are you serious?' Daphne asked incredulously.

'Potter's luck strikes again,' Millicent said with a smile.

Daphne let out a playful growl. 'I can't believe you guys like him.'

'Like him? We don't even know him, but you are just too easy to tease,' Tracey said.

'Hmph, whatever,' Daphne said, though it was drowned out by the roar of the cheering and applauding crowd.

It was a mid-December Saturday and Daphne sat with her friends at breakfast, her back towards the rest of the tables. She noticed Tracey scanning the Hall and had an intrigued look on her face.

'What's so interesting?' Daphne asked without turning around to see what Tracey was looking at.

'It's just funny how many girls fawn over Potter but don't have the guts to actually talk to him,' Tracey answered.

'They are so lame. He's not anything special.'

'I don't know, he is kind of a big deal. Triwiarzd Champion or not,' Tracey countered.

'Ok, but still, have some self-respect, either talk to him or don't. All this other stuff is just humiliating.'

'Ok, well if you're so confident, why don't you go talk to him?' Tracey challenged. Millicent's eyes grew wide. They liked, well Tracey liked, to get her friends to step out of their comfort zones. She said it developed character. And usually, it wasn't something that challenging, so they went along with her challenges. But this, this was another level.

'I'm not confident, you know that. But I'm also not fluttering about to try and get attention.'

'I dare you!' Tracey said, lowering her voice, and the change in tone made it all the more forceful.

Daphne knew she wouldn't have a problem holding a conversation with Harry, she didn't think they'd start fighting in front of everyone, but there were no guarantees. She wouldn't faint and fall over at his celebrity status. But she just didn't want to talk to him, she couldn't think of anything she had to say to him and figured he didn't have anything to say to her. But putting Tracey in her place would feel pretty good right now too.

'Ok, fine. I'll do it. Tell me when he and his entourage get up,' Daphne declared.

The eyes of both her friends had grown to the size of a grapefruit. Apparently, neither had expected her to accept the challenge.

'You're going to do it right now?' Millicent asked in shock.

'I better do it before I lose my nerve,' Daphne replied hesitantly. She had to make it seem like this was a big deal to keep Tracey from catching on to her lack of fear to talk to Harry. It worked.

'There they go, better hurry,' Tracey said with a victorious smirk and head nod.

Daphne shot out of her seat and hurried off towards the exit of the Great Hall to catch Harry. Her friends were not far behind, they didn't want to miss this.

'Hey, Potter!,' Daphne called as she caught up with Harry and his friends just as they'd exited the Hall.

Harry turned around and raised his eyebrows when he saw who had called his name. Ron and Hermione also looked at her curiously.

'Can I talk to you for a minute?' Daphne asked politely. It killed her to use that tone with him but people were watching and she didn't want to give any reason for people to suspect there was anything more between them.

'Sure,' Harry answered hesitantly. He looked to his friends, 'You can head up, I won't be long.'

Ron and Hermione nodded and started walking towards the staircase but they didn't ascend. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs and their eyes stayed on Harry and Daphne as they found a small alcove where they could have a degree of privacy.

'So, what's up?' Harry asked and Daphne knew he was faking politeness, same as she had done.

She looked around and her friends were just as far away as Harry's and there was no one else close enough to hear anything so she dropped the fake polite tone, but kept her expression pleasant.

'Who's the sucker you got to go to the Ball with you?' she asked.

Harry let out a small snort and a quick smirk crossed his face before he steadied his expression. 'I don't have a date yet,' he replied coolly.

'You mean you got shot down by Cho,' she said knowingly. There had been that rumor that he'd asked her going about, no reason not to test its accuracy.

'I just asked too late, that's all.'

'Oh, sure, I'll bet,' Daphne said sarcastically.

'Well, what about you? Has anyone volunteered to put up with you for a whole night?' he asked mockingly.

'I'm just waiting for the right person,' she replied haughtily.

'Figures. Don't get your hopes up. No one's going to ask you with your table chest.'

'Excuse me!' She raised her voice more than intended but no one knew what the subject was so they were none the wiser only hearing that phrase.

'Hey, don't shoot the messenger, but you're flatter than the state of Kansas. Again, that's just from what I hear, I don't know nothin' about Kansas.' He couldn't keep the smug grin off his face.

'Well, your crooked smile is ugly.'

'And yet, just about any other girl in the school would go to the dance with me. . . if I asked.'

'Just not Cho.'

'Hmpf, I already told you why,' Harry said defensively. His victorious grin disappeared from his face.

'And still. . . you are dateless,' Daphne said as she landed another blow. She was feeling pretty good about things at this point, putting the arrogant brat in his place.

Harry opened his mouth, then closed it, not satisfied with whatever his initial response was going to be.

Daphne's smirk remained firmly in place.

Harry scrunched his eyebrows in thought. 'Maybe we should go together,' he said, almost in question.

'Are you stupid? I'd rather go with Crabbe than be seen on your arrogant arm,' Daphne retorted.

'Trust me, I'm not suggesting this because I want to be near your nasty ass all night. . . Sirius is going to be a chaperone. . . He thinks it's so funny how much we fight. Maybe if we pretend to get along, we can piss him off.'

'Hmm, he did seem to egg us on a lot over the summer. Like it was a form of entertainment to him,' Daphne said bringing a hand to her chin. He was right about Sirius being a chaperone. Dumbledore had insisted, saying that he needed to be seen in public acting like a normal wizard if he were to ever regain a portion of his reputation. And this would be a great opportunity since the kids wouldn't judge as quickly and they'd hardly be paying attention to a chaperone with all the other events going on that night. Daphne nodded as she acknowledged Harry's idea had merit. 'It might be fun to get him back. . . That might be the first good idea you've had your entire life.'

'No—'

'Shut up and just take the compliment.'

'Fine, so we're going together?' Harry asked.

'Yeah. I guess we are,' Daphne answered, almost in disbelief at what she was agreeing to.

'Alright, maybe check with your mum about an Engorgio Charm so you can fill out your dress.'

Daphne took in a sharp breath but quickly shot back, 'And you should look into some platform shoes so you are actually taller than me.'

Harry grunted in displeasure but didn't dispute the point or further the argument.

They locked eyes for a moment, nodded their heads at each other, and they both left mumbling and muttering curses about the other.

Daphne quickly brightened her face with a victorious smile as she approached her friends, who were picking their jaws up off the floor.

'You talked way longer than I thought you would. What did you talk about?' Tracey asked.

'Oh, he just asked me to the Yule Ball,' Daphne replied nonchalantly.

'He what?' both friends cried in unison.

'Yup, at first I said no, but he basically begged me,' Daphne added.

'I don't believe that,' Tracey stated. 'No offense, but any of us would be stupid to turn down anyone at this point.'

'I guess you'll never know,' Daphne said suggestively.

'You're no fun,' Tracey said.

'Who would've guessed that Potter had his eye on you this whole time. . .' Millicent said with irony.

'He didn't. . . It's not. . . There's no way.' Daphne truly didn't have words for that. Not without giving away too much. And playing a little starstruck would be expected, so she went with it.

Tracey and Millicent burst out in laughter.

'Looks like our dear friend is speechless, Millie,' Tracey stated jovially.

'Let's get her back to our room to start getting her ready. You're gonna be dancing in front of everyone now,' Millicent added.

That had not crossed her mind when she accepted Harry's idea. Surely Harry knew how to dance. He wouldn't go out there to look like a fool in front of the whole school, would he? There was no way, everything would be fine, everything would be fine.

She took in a deep reassuring breath and headed back to her dorm with her friends who wouldn't stop chattering for the whole day.