Chapter 10

The Set Up (You Need This)

'Hey, who's that Gryffindor girl that's always ogling Harry?' Daphne asked her friends.

Tracey snorted, 'Which one?'

'Long curly black hair.'

'Oh, that's Vane. . . can't remember her first name though.'

'You worried Harry is going to get snatched up by her?' Millicent asked teasingly.

'No, I'm not really worrying myself with that. But if I were, I'd be more concerned about his old flame flaring back up,' Daphne commented.

'Chang?'

'Yeah, she's been eyeing him more lately.'

'She's got nothing on you, Daph. Harry would have to be stupid—'

'Just leave it,' Daphne said.

She knew Harry had received her note. He'd done an admirable job of not showing any emotional response but he wasn't flawless; he shot a subtle glance in her direction that she only picked up on because she was shamelessly staring at him. The only question was whether or not he was going to play along, she suspected he would.

Daphne waited for Vane after dinner on Saturday evening.

'Vane,' she called out.

'Yeah?' Vane responded, peeling off from her friends.

'I couldn't help but notice you kinda have an eye for my boyfriend,' Daphne said slyly.

'I—Well. . . I didn't know you were still together,' she stammered, color filling her cheeks.

'Oh, yes, I suppose that's reasonable. We're just keeping it on the down-low. Harry gets enough attention already. We don't need to invite more.'

'Oh, I'm sorry then. But I don't think he even knows I exist,' she replied despondently.

'Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, Harry's a bit unique—probably why you're attracted to him.'

Vane gave her a demure smile.

Daphne continued, 'See, I was right. And one of the unique things he wanted for his birthday was. . . to snog another girl.'

Vane looked stunned.

'The only caveat was that I had to pick her out,' Daphne added.

'And you're picking me?' she asked, pointing a finger at herself.

'Yes, I'm picking you. I am wrong to think you'd be interested? I know I can find others,' Daphne answered casually.

'No, you're right. I'll totally do it. I'm just shocked. You sure it's ok?'

'Yes, I just want my Harry to be happy,' Daphne said while throwing an arm over the girl's shoulder and leading her towards the staircase.

'When is it?'

'Tonight, I'll show you to his favorite broom closet. And I'll give you a couple of tips specific to my boyfriend. You might know this already, but Harry is not much of a talker. So when he shows up, just get right to it. And obviously, don't tell anyone. This is kind of a private matter between us three,' she said almost conspiratorially.

'Of course, I understand completely. My lips are sealed.'

'Well, just wait until you're done with him this evening to seal those lips. You want to enjoy yourself after all,' Daphne teased, adding a forced laugh. Vane didn't enjoy the humor quite as much and just blushed a little. 'By the way, I'm Daphne, what's your name?'

'Romilda.'

'Great, Romilda, don't be too nervous, Harry is really nice. I'll meet you in the third-floor corridor in thirty minutes. You don't need to get all ready, just smell nice and brush your teeth.'

Daphne met her in the corridor at the appointed time. Romilda hasn't followed Daphne's advice. She had gussied herself up as much as she could in thirty minutes. But no amount of makeup and Charms was going to cover her look of being flustered and nervous.

'Don't worry, Romilda, it's gonna be ok,' Daphne said encouragingly. 'Remember what I said, don't bother with small talk. Just grab his face and snog him senseless.'

'Ok, if you're sure,' she replied hesitantly.

'I'm sure,' Daphne said with a reassuring smile. She checked the time. 'Alright, it'll be just a few minutes. Have fun.' She let Romilda enter the closet, then gently closed the door.

Daphne hurried down the hall and hid in a small alcove, all she had to do was peek out and she could eye the door. It didn't take long before she heard footsteps approaching. . . and voices!

'I still don't believe you, mate. You're setting me up,' an Irish voice said.

'Yeah, setting you up for a good time,' Harry replied.

Yes, that was definitely Harry's voice, but why was he coming with someone else?

'I still don't understand why.'

'I already told you, she lost a dare. She has to snog a random bloke. And she's not supposed to know who it is, so you can't say a word.'

Son of a bitch!

'A dare? That's mental. Why would she do it just for a dare?'

'Pride, mate. She's the proudest, most stubborn girl I've ever met. But she's a damn good kisser, you won't regret it.' Harry encouraged.

Damn right, I am!

'Alright, but you can't get all pissed at me after.'

'Don't worry, I won't,' Harry said with a chuckle.

The door to the closet opened and closed and muffled sounds of snoggning immediately commenced.

Daphne could hear what she believed to be Harry's footsteps coming back in her direction. She stepped out of the alcove and confronted him.

'Damn it, Harry! What was that?' Daphne cried, though she kept her volume low.

'Wha—' he turned to look at the still closed closet door, then back at Daphne. 'If you're out here. . . who's in there?'

'Romilda Vane.'

'You tried to trick me into snogging Romilda Vane?'

'And you tried to set Seamus Finnegan on me,' Daphne countered.

'You sort of deserved it,' Harry stated.

'I deserved it?' she asked indignantly. 'I think this was taking it easy on you for what you put in my goblet.'

'That was me going easy on you,' Harry claimed.

'Let's take this into a classroom,' Daphne ordered as she marched into the nearest empty room.

Harry followed and cast a few spells at the closed door.

'You're that mad about going back to the Dursleys?'

Harry glared in response. 'At least I can't say you're stupid.'

Daphne huffed. 'Wasn't that the plan all along? What did you expect?'

'Not to go back there,' he said hotly.

'Well, don't blame me because you didn't think ahead,' she stated fiercely. 'After what he thought we were up to, did you honestly think Sirius was going to take you to the Burrow?'

'I guess. . . I hoped,' he said and his anger seemed to fade with the sentence.

'And so when you ended up back at your cousin's it was a huge punch to the gut,' Daphne reasoned, her ferocity softening considerably, in fact, she almost sounded compassionate.

'The punch landed a little lower than that, but yeah, you're on the right track,' he said with a hint of a smile.

Daphne couldn't hold in the little snort which caused them both to laugh for a bit.

'Did they hurt you?' she asked more somberly.

'No.'

'Did they starve you?'

'No.'

'Were you grounded?'

'No, I came and went as I pleased. They basically ignored me.'

'Ok. . . So, don't bite my head off. I'm just trying to understand. But what was the problem then? From my point of view, you had complete freedom for almost two weeks.' She tried to be as careful and nonaccusatory as she could with her tone and words.

'I hate to break it to you but having only yourself for company for that long isn't all that exciting, let alone fun.'

'I get that.' She'd spent enough time alone growing up to understand the feeling. 'Sirius came to see you some, right? To tell you whatever news he had.'

'Yeah, he came a little.'

'So, you'd talk to Sirius but ignore me?' she said with a playful challenge and a softening smile.

'I only talked to him so he would keep coming and give me the information.'

'So, you are still upset with him?'

'Yes, but how did you know about that? He said he hasn't told you any of that stuff,' he said suspiciously and eyeing her curiously.

'He hasn't. I just overheard a few things that first day. When he first got back he told me you were to have no communication with anyone. I ran away pretending to be all upset.'

'That's not true. I got letters from Ron and Hermione the whole time.'

'I know, that's one of the things I overheard later. He had lied to me so that I wouldn't write.'

'That makes sense,' Harry said with a nod. 'Did he lie to me about you convincing him to keep me there?' Now his question held the slight accusation.

'No,' she said, dropping her head. 'I heard that he was going to bring you back so I panicked and said whatever I could to stop him. I thought I was just sticking to the plan.'

'Yeah, I guess it worked,' Harry said noncommittally.

'You would've laughed at some of the things I said about you. Your acting must've inspired me.'

Harry broke into a genuine smile. The one she called ugly and crooked out loud but that made her heart skip a beat right now. When did that start?

'What did you do when you got to Grimmauld?'

'Cleaned.'

'Soooo, I basically saved you two weeks of doing chores by keeping you at your relatives,' she said playfully.

'Hello. . . You're forgetting something. . . Dementors,' Harry said sarcastically.

'You can hardly fault me or anyone for not predicting that,' she replied matter-of-factly. 'But in the end, it was a good thing.'

'You've gone off the deep end,' he deadpanned.

'No, first of all, your cousin, you saved him. He's never going to think about bullying you again. And the Ministry, they've overplayed their hand to anyone that looks at the facts closely enough—which won't be many, sadly.'

'It was Umbridge. Well, that's my guess at least .'

'Wouldn't surprise me, she's as subtle as a banshee. So, you came out ahead, in the end. You're welcome,' Daphne smirked.

'I'm not thanking you,' Harry snarled, though it lacked any real venom.

'And here I thought you might actually use your brain,' she replied in turn.

But Harry didn't seem to take to the joke. He lowered his head slightly. 'You wouldn't understand,' he said somewhat despondently.

'Only because you don't talk. Not even Hermione knows. If you want to fault me for acting in ignorance then there's nothing more I can say.'

'You talked to Hermione about me?'

'Yeah, when someone you care about has struggles—'

'You care about me?' he asked as he looked up. Her eyes widened and he grinned with a victorious smile. 'I knew that letter was real,' he smirked.

'Pff. . . No, it just had to be convincing.' She had to try to regain a shred of dignity.

'Hmm. . . so you didn't want to snog? I probably could use the distraction. . . as you said.'

'You're admitting I was right?' she asked triumphantly.

'Maybe just this once,' Harry admitted. 'And that snog? I know Sirius is going to want to hear all about it. He thought he was spoiling some grand surprise.'

They both broke out in laughter.

'Maybe. . . just this once,' Daphne said, reasoning with herself as the two of them drew closer together. 'So I'm not a liar.'

'Of course, I don't think I could stomach—'

'Will you shut up already?'

They got lost in each other. And the time passed all too quickly.

'Do you really think I'm that good of a kisser?' Daphne asked playfully.

'No,' Harry replied dismissively. 'But I had to convince Seamus it was going to be worth his while.'

Daphne smacked his arm. 'Fine then. I guess we're done for the night,' she declared as she stalked to and out the door.

'Daphne, wait! We don't have to be done. Can't you take a joke?' he pleaded while chasing after her.

'I can. But it's late and look. . . the closet door is open. They're gone and we shouldn't wait too long to get you back. At least you look the part,' she said playfully as she messed up his hair even more than it already was.

'You're the worst, you know that?' he stated.

'Worst and the best. . . interesting. You know, if they followed instructions, you're gonna have to give Romilda a little wink, or something,' Daphne said as they walked.

'Instructions?'

'Yeah, I told Romilda not to talk, like you did to Finnegan. So if they both didn't, they still might think they were actually snogging someone else,' Daphne said with an evil grin.

'Oh, no. That's gonna be worse for me than it is for you,' Harry said in horror.

'Good luck,' she said, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. Their place of parting had arrived. 'And tell Seamus I curl my hair for special occasions. . . if he mentions it, of course.'

'Yeah, yeah, curly hair. . . Got it,' Harry said in a slight daze. The thoughts of managing Romilda seemed to be weighing heavily on his mind.

Daphne giggled as she left. Her plan for revenge had gone as according to plan but perhaps something better came of it.

Things seemed to go back to normal with Harry after that evening. Though normal wasn't exactly lacking in confusion. They'd share a glance here and there. They'd say hello as they walked by one another in corridors or in their shared classes. Essentially, they acted the same way they did when they were fake boyfriend and girlfriend the year before, only she wasn't sure if their agreement had carried over.

As she was chatting in Arithmancy with Hermione—they regularly sat together now—an interesting topic was brought up.

'Hey, how'd you like to do some Defence training since we aren't learning anything in class this year?' Hermione asked as quietly as possible.

'What do you mean?' Daphne replied. She'd need some more details.

'We've got a group—Harry's leading it—he's basically training us in the spells we should know. I thought maybe you, Tracey, and Millicent would like to come.'

'That does sound like something we'd like. One problem though. . . Millicent has already been tagged by Umbridge for her student enforcer group. She knows her mother—or something—and Millicent couldn't say no.'

'Wants her to help enforce her rules?' Hermione asked.

'Yeah, Millie doesn't actually do much but I don't think she could pull off lying about going to or even knowing about an illegal group. Especially if Potter is involved.'

'And you and Tracey couldn't sneak away?'

'We could, but if we did it too much. . .'

'You might get caught. . . we might get caught.' Hermione pursed her lips in thought. 'Well, I'll wait for you just outside the girls' bathroom on the sixth floor tonight if you want to come. Be early because you will never find it on your own.' Hermione's mischievous smirk piqued Daphne's interest.

'I'll try to make it,' Daphne said as class was ending.

She did. She was able to make up some reasonable excuse to sneak away—Tracey assumed it was to see Harry, and Daphne didn't deny it—for the evening. And she got to the meeting place before Hermione even arrived.

'Oh, good! You're here already,' Hermione said breathlessly. Daphne hadn't been waiting long.

'Did you run?'

'Perhaps,' she replied. 'Let's go.'

'Is it going to be weird with me showing up?' Daphne asked.

'I don't think so. We had a few newcomers last meeting. It won't be too unusual.'

Hermione led her to the seventh floor and took her through a door she'd never seen before. Though she hadn't spent that much time up here to say for sure. Before she could even ask about the room that seemed to be prepared for the express purpose of learning Defence, she was ambushed by a couple of redheads.

'Daphne, we just need to clarify, we had no idea Harry was going to use the Fizzy Piss on you,' one of them said.

'But dumping it all over Malfoy was brilliant,' the other added.

'Fizzy piss?' she asked as she was processing their comments. 'One of your products?'

'Yeah, still in development and we want to add some other flavors. But it tasted pretty real, no?'

'So that was just a flavor? Not real piss?' she asked in confirmation.

'That's right. Harry didn't clarify that?'

'No, he failed to mention that,' Daphne said coolly.

'Can't say Harry isn't a dedicated prankster. He even lets the psychological effects linger.'

'Well, no hard feelings boys,' Daphne stated. 'But I may be in need of your services in the future.'

They shared a knowing smile, 'We're ready for business whenever you are,' one of them said.

'Alright, everyone. Gather 'round. Let's get started,' Harry called out, cutting their impromptu meeting short.

She nodded to the twins and started walking with the group that had poured into the room. Harry gave her a welcoming smile when their eyes met, not much different than what he shared with the others. She expected something like that, he wouldn't want to treat her differently than the rest. She looked around at the other students in the group, no Slytherins, as she expected.

Then, she felt it. Something cold struck her leg. A tingling sensation slowly traveled down her legs until everything from her hips to her toes felt cold and numb. She took a few progressively unstable steps, wobbling to and fro, her arms flailing in a feeble attempt to regain her balance. It was fruitless, she crumpled to the ground in a heap, her legs twisted like a pretzel. . . the Jelly Legs Jinx, no doubt about it.

The group of students erupted in laughter as she looked up with a scowl. Harry was standing in the center of the semicircle, twirling his wand with a satisfied smile on his face. She scrunched her face in contempt, and Harry chuckled softly.

'For those of you that are new,' Harry said in his teacher's voice. 'The first lesson of Defence is preparedness, and a key component of preparedness is awareness. Always be ready to defend yourself. . . always.'

Daphne performed the counter jinx and sat while she could feel her legs regain their form. She didn't remove the slight scowl from her face.

Harry continued, 'We started the Shield Charm last time. We'll continue with that today until we become proficient. Don't fret if it doesn't come right away. This one can take some time before you get it. Let's pair off and practice. Everyone use the Disarming Charm, I don't want to worry about countering your jinxes right now!'

Everyone broke off quickly and without the chaos she would've predicted. Harry was like a military general commanding his soldiers. Hermione came over and paired off with Daphne. They hadn't mastered the Shield Charm last year while helping Harry train but they were proficient enough that it didn't require much practice to get it right. They spent just as much time looking around at the group as they did sending spells at each other.

Daphne was happy with the amount of attention she didn't get. A few people shot her some low-level glares but nobody made any comments about her, or said she shouldn't be here. She figured her association with Harry bought her some distance and clout, so that was nice.

Eventually, she and Hermione came together to comment on their observations.

'It's like watching Harry learn all over,' Hermione said, pointing out some of the individuals that were severely struggling to get up a shield.

'And I recall inflicting slightly more pain on Harry,' Daphne recalled. 'Maybe that would help some of them learn faster.'

Hermione laughed, 'Perhaps it would. A little motivation goes a long way.'

Their eyes scanned the room together and both settled on Harry and who he was currently assisting.

'She is so pathetic,' Daphne growled.

'She's not very subtle, that's for sure. I wonder if Harry is even picking up on it.'

'He's sure pretending like he doesn't notice.'

'Maybe he likes the attention,' Hermione posited.

'Maybe,' Daphne said with a small snarl.

'Still figuring things out?' Hermione asked.

'Yeah, I guess you could call it that.'

'Ok, everyone gather up!' Harry announced. 'Let's do some demonstrations so we can evaluate some of your performance.'

The group made a familiar semi-circle and Harry scanned the room for his demonstrators.

'Ok, er. . . Smith, come up. And. . . Daphne, come up.'

They both walked up to Harry and he gave them some new instructions.

'Alright, Smith, you'll go first. You can cast whatever spell you want, doesn't have to be the Disarming Charm. Then, Daphne will go next. Both of you take ten paces in opposite directions.'

Harry walked with Daphne as she took her paces and whispered inconspicuously to her, 'Hit him with that Stinging Jinx. I haven't seen anyone use that in here yet. And don't be afraid to overpower it, don't be a weakling,' he said, not hiding the challenge.

She held back her smile as much as she could, if Harry wanted her to not hold back. . . well, he asked for it.

She turned and faced Smith, he bore a rather sinister grin. She took her stance, legs shoulder-width apart, knees bent, and feet turned almost perpendicularly to each other in an offset position. She was ready for whatever was going to come her way.

He jabbed his wand in her direction and shouted an incantation she recognized from one of her books. He'd sent a nasty Sledgehammer Curse at her. It would've sent her to the hospital wing had she not blocked it, which she did without a problem.

There were even some murmurs from the kids observing that it was over the line.

Daphne wasn't phased, or at least that's what she portrayed. Inside, a small fire was lit. She wasn't planning on holding back, even before, but now any reservation she might've been holding onto had now evaporated. Her plan wasn't going to change, she was just going to add something a little extra.

'Alright, Daphne, you're up,' Harry stated, snapping her from her contemplative state.

She nodded and raised her wand. 'Morsusio!' At the last second, she rotated her body so her wand was pointed directly between Harry's eyes.

He froze—not that he had any time to react—his eyes bugged, and the spell slammed into his face, instantly causing the now-familiar swelling to mutilate his face.

A chorus of, 'Oooooh,' rang out in the room.

'Right in the face. . . again!' Ron cried with a laugh.

'What was that?' Harry was barely able to yell out.

'I was just making sure I learned the first lesson properly. Always be prepared to defend yourself, right?' Daphne said mockingly.

'You look like a fool, Potter,' Smith yelled as he doubled over in laughter.

Daphne glared and sent the same spell across the room at the hyena, and she put a little extra oomph on it for good measure. Her aim was precise and it hit Smith right between the eyes; his face blossomed even more than Harry's

If there was some laughter before, there was full-blown howling now. They all seemed to find Smith's plight more humorous than Harry's.

'Oww!' Smith moaned.

'Didn't want you to miss the chance to practice your shield,' Daphne deadpanned.

Hermione walked up to Harry and turned to the group, 'All done for tonight. I'll let you know about the next meeting. Someone help Smith to the hospital wing, I'll be right behind you with Harry.'

A couple of Hufflepuffs went to Smith's side and helped him out of the room.

'I really need you to teach me that spell,' Hermione said to Daphne.

'Did you really have to do that?' Harry groaned.

'I needed to create a distraction so I could land a good shot on Smith,' Daphne replied in faux innocence.

Harry grunted his displeasure of the reasoning.

'Perhaps, you should have someone teach you the counter to this one. . . ' Hermione suggested to Harry with a chuckle. That earned a growl from Harry.

'Consider this some payback for not telling me that your little piss stunt wasn't really piss,' Daphne said.

'Ha, you found out,' Harry replied, a misshapen smirk on his face. 'If you're that upset about not drinking real piss, I can find a way to make it happen.'

'Go get your face fixed, Quasimodo,' Daphne scoffed. 'Maybe Romilda will still think you're cute.'

'Merlin, no!' Harry guffawed.

Harry walked with Ron and Hermione helping him navigate the corridors.

'Why would she think you care what Romilda thinks?' Hermione asked with extreme curiosity.

'Don't ask,' Harry responded dryly before they split off from Daphne.

Daphne was only able to attend a few more of the DA meetings, as she learned they were called. She declined the coin, even though she knew it was probably being overly cautious. So she didn't even know about every meeting that occurred. When she could go, she would always pair off with Hermione and she would help her catch up with some of the things she missed during the meetings she wasn't able to attend. They worked very well together and their proficiency at learning the spells meant she rarely interacted with Harry during the meetings.

That didn't stop her from keeping an eye on Harry, if she got caught staring, so be it. People could perceive her as the jealous girlfriend or the jealous ex-girlfriend, either one was fine with her.

Oh, his eyes would find her when she entered the room; and they might linger on her for a beat as he would scan the room to see who needed help—or she thought he lingered. And when he would come around to check in on her, they'd share a few small insults, unless Hermione was too close by. What they never had, was any time truly alone, and either from distraction, nervousness, or pride, neither asked the other to set something up.

Daphne refrained from the typical ploys of asking him to show her how to grip her wand or to give her a hands-on demonstration of wand movements. Yet, on occasion, their hands would brush unnecessarily, an action she contributed to as much as he.

As she watched him, she couldn't help but admire the way Harry commanded respect from the others. And his ability to instruct others was much better than she expected. Another surprise was that she didn't hate herself for having these sorts of thoughts. She tried to not dwell on that fact.

Smith never bothered her, but that didn't mean she wasn't always on the lookout. She took that first lesson to heart and wasn't going to let Smith, Harry, or anyone else catch her unaware again.

She found that most of the other kids appreciated her takedown of Smith and warmed up to her rather nicely. At the very least, almost all of them weren't cold towards her. There were a few exceptions, but she didn't give them time or attention.

Daphne also covered for Tracey a few times so she could go to some of the meetings. They never went together to avoid drawing attention but they felt anything was better than nothing. The hardest part about that was not talking about things in front of Millicent. Again, they didn't feel threatened that she would turn them in, but they didn't want her to have to lie for them; Millicent was the worst of the group at keeping secrets.

The weeks flew by this way and the end of the term was almost upon her. She'd been thinking of different things she and Harry could do at the platform to irk Sirius and she thought she'd come up with the ultimate prank. She knew Harry would happily agree to anything that would set off his godfather and this particular prank was sure to induce fireworks.

Tracey returned from her turn at the DA meeting and in a brief moment when Millicent was occupied whispered to Daphne, 'That was the last meeting of the year.'

Daphne nodded. Damn, she thought. She'd been hoping for another meeting the next day when it would be her turn and she could stay after to inform Harry of her plan. That was just a small bump in the road, she could catch him sometime over the next two days, or at worst, on the train. Her plan involved little preparation on her part and none on his, outside of knowing he needed to play along.

She settled into her bed that night with a feeling of anticipation for the Christmas break. She'd even come up with a pretty good idea of something to get Harry if they ended up having to exchange gifts. Again, it was something they'd never discussed but it was best to be prepared, she thought.