A/N: Hellooooo brethren. It seems we have a massive problem. Now look. I humbly apologize for not updating all this while. My excuse? I won't bore you guys with one. In return for the raw honesty I just displayed, it's only fair that I ask something in return, right? Here's the deal: all you have to do is enjoy the story (and if you are an especially high quality individual with decidedly good taste, pls spend 2 minutes of your time to review). Thanks for checking this work out. Love y'all.
Harry POV
When he had seen Daphne Greengrass cross their compartment, Harry had known that his spur of the moment idea would be worth the trouble he was inevitably going to get into. He vaguely remembered Hermione telling him that Daphne and Draco were the prefects of Slytherin House. The train had begun to slow down, meaning that they would have to get off in about twenty minutes. After telling his friends to leave without him, and putting on his invisibility cloak, he had quickly followed her down the empty corridor of the train. He wondered why she had been roaming around the train, since prefect duty had ended a while ago. But what did it matter to Harry? All he was looking for is proof to support his suspicions about Draco being a Death Eater, and if it took the infamous Ice Queen roaming around the train aimlessly for him to get that proof, he wasn't complaining.
Currently, he was perched on the luggage rack in the Slytherin compartment and observing the other occupants who were busy talking. It was an uncomfortable spot to be in, because of the small space Harry had to squeeze into that reminded him of his "room" under the stairs, and the fact that he was surrounded by people he considered as enemies. He heard Pansy speak up in a sickeningly sweet voice "I completely forgot to ask! What happened in the prefect meeting, Draco?"
Malfoy looked up with an exasperated expression. His skin was paler than ever before, and his eyes were bloodshot and tired while holding that ever present feeling of malice. "It was crap. I stopped listening the second the teacher said that prefects are representatives of the student body, and that they will 'be responsible for the safety of the students when the time comes'. I mean, it is utterly ridiculous that they think Hogwarts stands any chance now that the Dark Lord is back. The only reason that they weren't annihilated earlier was because of that filthy son of a mudblood Potter, and you can bet your ass that the same thing won't happen again."
Harry felt his blood boil at those statements and wanted nothing more than to get down and deck Malfoy in the face. But he forced himself to control his temper and continue listening.
"What about Dumbledore though? Many say he is the greatest wizard of this age, maybe of all time. It is common belief that Dumbledore is as strong as, if not stronger than You-Know-Who. I mean we all know that they had a one on one duel inside the Ministry headquarters last year and Dumbledore got out of the fight relatively unscathed." Goyle said nervously.
"The Dark Lord must have been holding back for some reason. We cannot presume to judge his reason for doing things. And as for Dumbledore…" Malfoy looked as if he were debating whether or not to complete his sentence "... in all likelihood he will no longer be present to oppose the revolution."
Pansy must have been feeling just as confused at the cryptic statement as Harry was because she said "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" but got no reply as the compartment fell into an uneasy silence. Harry's mind was racing at this point with countless possibilities that would explain what Malfoy had said. Now in the past, any comment such as this one would have been chalked off to Draco's arrogance and inherent stupidity talking. But looking at him now, his pale skin a harsh contrast against his black robes, it was obvious that something drastic had happened to him over the summer.
But try as he may, no answers came to Harry's mind. Why would Dumbledore suddenly leave in the midst of what was probably the most important war for the wizarding world in the centuries? And how did Malfoy know about it? Given the chance that he might be a Death Eater, it was possible that Voldemort was plotting something. Harry had his own suspicions on the matter, but he knew from experience that he should wait before taking action based on flimsy assumptions. He would only warn Dumbledore if he had a better understanding of the situation and after discussing it with Ron and Hermione.
The chug of the train gradually died down, and a loud whistle resonated throughout the corridors signaling that they had arrived. Harry, of course, could not move until everyone else had unboarded, so he hoped one of his friends would take out his luggage as well. As more and more people left the Slytherin compartment, he noticed that Malfoy was still on his seat, and more importantly staring intently at the exact spot he was hiding. And he continued doing so till they were alone with the exception of Daphne, who had been sitting a few seats away from everyone else, not speaking but definitely paying attention to the events taking place around her.
"I'll come out in a minute. There is something I need to check." Draco said when she lingered on the doorway.
"I understand. I hope you will make it in time for dinner. It will be unbecoming for a prefect to miss the Feast on the first night back. You would do well not to attract unwanted attention and go out of your way to seek trouble." she replied smoothly and also made her exit. Even though she was looking at Draco the entire time, it felt that the last sentence was addressed to him. It felt like those icy blue eyes would turn to him at any moment and bore their way to his soul. Those icy blue eyes that burned with a fierce flame.
Those icy blue eyes that would distract him long enough for Malfoy to yell "Petrificus Totalus" and cause him to fall hard on the floor. A groan escaped from his lips as Malfoy kicked him sharply in the gut, the heels digging into his skin as his torso erupted in pain. He couldn't do anything but shake on the cold surface as Malfoy delivered blow after blow, laughing like the maniac he is "Aye Potter. I must say that was more gutsy than I expected of you. Even though your masterful efforts at staying hidden yielded zero results. You think you are a head above the rest of us just because you got lucky that night? Because oh-so-great Dumbledore has been practically swooning after you since the day you graced this school with your presence? You don't amount to shit, Potter. It's truly pathetic. Both you and this school. Luckily for me, both would cease to exist very soon."
With a final kick delivered straight to Harry's face, one that probably broke his nose, he picked up his suitcase and with a sick smile, slithered out of the train. He had never loathed Malfoy more than he did now. His nose was throbbing and his body felt limp. He didn't know how long he could hold on to consciousness in this agony before passing out. If he did, then no one would find him anytime soon and Hermione and Ron would turn Hogwarts upside down looking for him. It would surely go against the advice of not attracting "unwanted attention" that he had been given minutes ago. Just as his vision was starting to fall into blackness, he saw a halo of blonde hair descending on his fallen form like an angel. His eyes glanced upwards and met the condescending gaze of Daphne Greengrass.
They remained in that position for a full minute. Harry could discern the pity behind the blank film of indifference in her gaze, and he did not like it one bit. Why was she even here? To remind him of the humiliation he just went through, to threaten him, perhaps to simply enjoy his current state. Somehow, any of these reasons coming from a person he had never interacted with in the slightest pissed him off more than what Malfoy did. To make matters worse, she offered him her arm. He did his best to glare at her with an I-will-get-you-back-for-that look. No doubt she had witnessed the entire exchange and knew that Harry couldn't even twitch his finger, much less hoist himself up. It was yet another way to mock him.
Which is why it surprised him immensely when a flash of confusion followed by understanding passed through her expression. She quickly took out her wand and muttered the counter curse to the body bind spell and brought her still outstretched arm even further towards him. He reluctantly took it and stood up, but was immediately hit with a wave of nausea so he had to lean against the seat for support. Daphne looked him over again, and pointed her wand at his face. Immediately, his hand went over to his wand as he ignored the spike of pain the sudden movement caused. Even though she had "helped" him, Harry was still skeptical about her motivations for two reasons. Firstly, she was in Slytherin House, a group of people hell-bent to make life miserable for him. The second reason had to do with her unique traits.
Even though he had personally never talked to her before, he had also heard the rumours about Daphne Greengrass, and the impenetrable walls of hard ice she surrounded herself with. She apparently had no close friends and only talked to others because she needed something from them or for the sake of being polite. She tried her best to erase her presence, something she failed at since she was one of the smartest and the most beautiful girls in school. She also had a reputation for ruthlessly crushing the dreams of anyone who dared ask her out. Seamus had spent a long time indeed ranting about how his life had practically ended when he was rejected by her during the Yule ball.
Harry's hand throbbed as he pointed his wand at her, knowing full well that if she wanted to harm him in any capacity, he would be unable to do anything to stop it from happening. The paralysis spell Malfoy had casted left him in a state where he could barely stand. Daphne quickly pointed out as much "I am merely trying to fix your broken nose. While I am fully aware that trusting my word on the matter would not be your first instinct, you don't have much choice either. Your current condition is such that even a simple levitation spell would be beyond you."
Everything she said was logical, painfully so. But Harry couldn't bring himself to just accept whatever she was saying blindly. "Oh yeah? Then tell me, why do you care? You are a Slytherin and I am pointing a wand at you even though you just helped me. What do you have to gain? If this is some elaborate plot to gain my trust then forget about it. Cause I am not falling for it anytime soon."
"While I do agree that you pointing a wand at me isn't the pleasant response I had hoped for, it is understandable. And yes, I am in the Slytherin House, but I am also a school prefect. You definitely exceeded your bounds when you trespassed into our cabin after following me through half the train."
At this point, my brain started struggling to keep up. How had she known that I was following her? It would be one thing if she came to know about it when I was climbing onto the luggage rack, but there was no way I gave myself away right from the get go. She continued "But at the same time Draco's response to the situation was unacceptable as well. It was my duty to make sure you did not suffer any permanent damage."
"And where were you when he was beating the shit out of me? Enjoying the show, were you? I bet that didn't come under ensuring student safety."
"I had suspected that Draco knew about the fact that you were eavesdropping on their conversation. Therefore, I was lingering near the train and waiting for both of you to come out. But when he left and you didn't, I decided to check what happened. If I had intervened at any point before that, Draco would have certainly attacked me as well and things would have unnecessarily escalated." As she finished saying this, the tip of her wand started glowing lightly and Harry felt a very weird sensation on his nose, as if someone was pushing and pulling every spot of it simultaneously. He touched his nose and found that it was no longer twisted like earlier.
His eyes met hers. "There. I apologize on behalf of Draco for his poor behaviour, and wish that you would forgive him just this once. Please wait for a few minutes before heading to the Great Hall. It would raise a lot of questions if we were to walk in together in the middle of the feast." Daphne finished and gracefully walked out of the compartment.
Harry stayed where he was, hand still tightly gripping his wand, while his mind couldn't seem to process the entire interaction. Harry hoped this encounter would be the strangest thing he would have to go through for at least a few weeks. It didn't quite work out that way...
