Harry had just finished eating dinner and was walking out of the Great Hall arm in arm with Daphne who was talking with Hermione.
"Daphne!" Hermione exclaimed as she had just snogged Harry in front of two first year Hufflepuffs.
Harry had a dumb smile on his face and licked his lips enjoying her cherry lip gloss. "What?" Daphne replied with a small smirk.
"You're going to get in trouble if Umbridge catches you." Hermione said in a low voice.
"Mione, I already have detention for the next 10 days, what more can that woman do to me." Harry said with a bit of laughter.
Daphne pulled Harry a bit closer and gently squeezed his side to let him know she felt bad for him. "It's just not fair!" Hermione practically pouted.
"What's not fair?" Cedric Diggory walked down a flight of stairs and over to the happy Trio.
Hermione's eyes lit up and she smiled brightly. "Uhh.. I… Its…" Hermione found it difficult to concentrate as Cedric was wearing a gold and black exercise shirt and black athletic shorts.
Harry and Daphne both started laughing while Cedric blushed. While it was known among friends that Cedric and Hermione were interested in each other, they hadn't taken any formal steps to becoming a couple. Daphne liked to call it 'Petting.'
"What's the matter Hermione, cat got your tongue?" Daphne teased.
Hermione's face turned tomato red and she sent a glare towards the blonde. "Hey Cedric." She said when she turned her attention back to the brown haired Auror. "We were just talking about how Harry here can't seem to stay out of detention."
Cedric walked over and stood next to Hermione, "How is that different than previous years?" Cedric joked.
"SEE!" Harry exclaimed. "I am not crazy!" Which drew laughs from everyone around.
"Harry you ready?" Cedric asked after a few moments passed, sending him a secretive look.
Harry's face stiffened slightly he wasn't particularly looking forward to see Alastor Moody again. Both Daphne and Hermione caught the shift in Harry's mood immediately. "Yeah, Sure." Harry rolled his shoulders and spun Daphne around. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Daphne frowned knowing that he was going to his special training that EVERYONE else seemed to know what it was about. "Fine, try not to get hurt." She gave him a quick kiss and a soft hug.
Harry enjoyed the embrace greatly and was disappointed that it didn't last longer. They broke apart and Harry just nodded before he walked towards the Transfigurations Classroom that they used last time.
He didn't quite register the hug and kiss on the cheek that Cedric gave Hermione. Somewhere in his brain that piece of information would be stored but he couldn't be bothered to realize it just yet.
A few moments later he heard a call for his name, "Harry! Wait up." Cedric was jogging up the stairs to meet him.
"Sorry, forgot that you were coming for a second." Harry laughed at his brain fart.
"No worries, you excited to start training?" Cedric was visible excited anyone that had spent anytime around the normally calm headed Hufflepuff would have noticed right away.
"I am nervous as to what Alastor has in store for us." Harry said as they rounded the corner and he opened the door.
"It can't be that bad-" Cedric started before a bright red light came for his face.
Fortunately for him, Harry was prepared and had erected a quick shield which exploded but the stunner had been deflected.
"Very good Potter!" Alastor said with a wicked grin. "Constant Vigilance!"
Cedric who had barely enough time to flick his wand into his hand mouthed a "Thank you" To Harry as they both walked into the room to meet Professor McGonangall.
"Greetings Gentlemen. Alastor how many times must you be told. We do not use spells on Students." Minerva scolded Moody.
Moody grinned, "Then I shall fail to point out that Mr. Diggory is neither a student nor did I use any spell on him."
The stern head of house held her ground, "Before I forget. Mr. Diggory your appeal to play this season has been recognized and should be signed by tomorrow." She said while eyeing Harry.
Harry turned to his fellow Seeker, "Wait! I didn't know you were trying to play?"
Cedric smiled and blushed slightly, "Yeah, my father mentioned that in the past Alumni have been given special permission to play after Graduation, and since there was no Quidditch last year. The Board of Governors thought it was a fair admission seeing as I was Champion and Captain of the team."
Harry was truly excited, "Ced that's amazing, I'll get one more chance to redeem myself." Harry was so disappointed that there was no Quidditch last year because it meant that he'd not be able to defend his title. Cedric is the only Seeker to have ever beaten him to a Snitch. Although it was caused because a swarm of Dementors came onto the field and made him fall off his broom. A fact that his friends teased him for endlessly.
"You mean one more chance to get BEAT." Cedric returned joyfully.
"Be that what it is boys, We are here for a specific reason. Today we are going to be working on Animagus transformation…"
The next three hours went by incredibly painfully as Harry and Cedric were forced to transform themselves piece by piece into their respective Animagus forms.
While the boys were practicing and tearing skin and bone. Daphne and Hermione had met in their abandoned classroom where they had gotten drunk a few nights prior.
"So what did you want to show me?" Hermione asked the blonde.
Daphne placed her bag on one of the desks and pulled a piece of parchment. "I talked to McGonagall the first week of school about some special training of my own." Daphne had put her wand to work scribing out a series of runes and numbers.
Hermione walked over and leaned over her shoulder and began to decipher the series of runes that she wrote and vanished into the paper. "You created your own spell?" She said as the pieces began to fall into place.
"I've been working on it since we started training over the summer. I had some help from mom and from McGonagall, along with Professor Babbling, but I was hoping that you'd given it a look over to see if I made any errors before testing it…" Daphne blushed slightly. Had she not met Harry and thus Hermione she never would have had anyone to talk to about Runes. They were her favorite subject along with her mother.
Hermoine smiled brightly, "I'd be glad to Daphne." She stood looking over the slightly taller girls shoulder as she wrote out runic array after runic array. Each line, each rune building on the one before it until the runes began to form into a single new rune. Daphne left the rune uncharged after she had finished writing it out.
"Let me know if you see anything I might have missed, its base thirteen and uses a triple derivative regression." Daphne explained as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small clump of athletic clothes.
Hermione sat down in the chair and began to wave her wand over the rune and it brought up the 169 layers of runes.
As she was proofing the runes, Daphne took off her school robes and her jeans leaving her in a pair of dark green bra and matching underwear. The dark color stood out so much that even Hermione was distracted from the reading.
"Uhh Daph…" She asked hesitantly as she looked over at her blonde friend.
"Hmmm?" She turned with her wand in her mouth as she was pulling up the black leggings. She reached up and took her wand into her hand. "Honestly Hermione you are the last one I expected to be bashful about being mostly naked in front of other girls."
"It's not that I am offended or even excited." She blushed slightly. Daphne truly had an amazing body. She was lean and slender but the smallest amount of muscle that stretched effortlessly over all of her bones told Hermione that she wasn't weak at all. "You just… I didn't expect you to change right in front of me."
"That didn't stop you and Harry over the summer?" Daphne said with a smirk as she put her wand back in her mouth to finish pulling up her pants.
"That's… That's completely different! Harry is like my brother!" Hermione stammered and quickly turned back to the rune that she was suppose to be working on, her face bright red.
"Uh huh." Daphne mumbled through her wand. She pulled the matching Gymnastics shirt over her head and allowed it magically adjust to her body before pulling it down her stomach.
She then began doing a series of stretches. "So this rune is suppose to make you more flexible?" Hermione asked as she had finished scanning over half the runic arrays.
"Basically it's supposed to make my muscles more elastic and thus have more twitch." Daphne strained slightly as she was stretching her legs out. "In theory I should not only be more flexible but i'll have faster reflexes and a greater range of motion."
Hermione nodded as she was almost finished checking the runes. "How do you intend to keep up with this greatly increased range of motion. Your body may be able to do things but you'll still have to think about what you want to do."
Daphne stood up and pulled her leg over her head. "Well i'm hoping that my years of Gymnastics and years of Occlumency training will allow me to stay focused despite the rapidness of movement." She sounded more hopeful than confident.
"What's Occlumency?" Hermione looked up. "Finished, looks good, I don't see anything that stands out."
Daphne pulled her leg down and walked over to the table to take one last look at the rune. "Occlumency is a technique used to organize the brain against Legitimacy and other forms of mental attack. Most purebloods teach their kids it growing us since it takes years to learn and decades to master."
Hermione stood up and went over to her bag and pulled out a parchment of her own. "Why is the first im hearing of it?"
Daphne waved her wand and began collapsing the runic circles back into the rune. "Because, Occlumency isn't something the Ministry wants taught. It's one of the few ways to get around Veritaserum and in some extreme cases has been known to counter the Imperius Curse."
Daphne finished collapsing the rune and then took a deep breath. "You sure about this Daph?" Hermione asked.
"No." Daphne laughed. "But I didn't come here to be a coward. Fuck it. Let's go." She pointed her wand at the rune. "Leppus Curre" She spoke and the rune glowed a faint red before disappearing from the paper and appeared as a red and white rabbit on her forearm.
Daphne felt a jolt of magic shoot through her, it wasn't uncomfortable as it was her magic in the first place, but it just felt different. She shivered as her arm and leg hair stood up. After a few moments Daphne took a few deep breaths. "Well that was interesting."
Hermione was standing mouth open and shocked. "If I had known you were going to Tattoo yourself I'd have checked it more carefully."
"Where's the fun in that?" Daphne asked with a smile. She began to slowly extend all of her extremities. They all felt normal, which was good. It meant that the limiting runes were correct and wouldn't allow the rune to just run wild it wasn't active. "Limiting runes are working."
Hermione wrote it down on the paper that she was sitting in front of. She was going to take notes for Daphne. "How about the application site?" Harmione asked.
Daphne looked down at her forearm where the small red and white rabbit was, it was grooming itself and when Daphne looked down at it, he looked back at her with bright blue eyes. "Application seems fine, what are we going to call you?" Daphne asked the rabbit as it began to hop up and down her arm happily.
"Rune site affirmed, Tattoo application successful, rune not yet tested awaiting voice activation." Hermione said almost computer like. "What about Lightning?"
Daphne's ears perked up slightly as did the rabbits. "You like Lightning?" The rabbit hopped around excitedly. "Lightning it is. Ready to test?" She looked over at Hermione.
Hermione checked over her notes and cast several cushioning charms around the room, "Should be good just stay on this half the room and you should be good. " She gestured towards the side that was now glowing a mint green.
Daphne took a few steadying breaths, "Leppus Curre" She said as she focused a bit of her magic towards the application site on her left forearm. The Rabbit began to glow and in a flash of red a spectral rabbit flashed in front of her and then disappeared.
Daphne's heart sped up rapidly and she felt her muscles tense and then loosen. The sudden shift almost made her fall down. "I'm fine!" She shouted back to Hermione as she had stood suddenly. "Just a little disorienting, I didn't expect the change to be so sudden." She rolled her shoulders back and stood up straight.
"Ok, but Daphne just take it easy. You have no idea what kind of effect this actually is going to have." Hermione was worried she had read many stories of spells going wrong, way wrong.
Daphne flexed her hands a bit testing the flexibility of her muscles and didn't quite notice a difference. "Ok I am going to try a simple set of exercises that I've been doing since I was six." Daphne said as she tucked her wand into its holster.
She turned towards the wall with the cushioning charms and in one fluid motion sprang forward by only engaging her ankles. She was shocked when she jumped almost ten feet landing and her shoes slipped against the friction of the ground forcing her to skid a few feet before she fell down.
Hermione stood up suddenly seeing her friend on the ground, "Daphne?!"
Daphne wasn't going that fast and thus was fine but she just wasn't expecting that amount of response. "Ok, that was new." Daphne grunted as she stood up.
Hermione began scribing results as she wrote, "Are you ok?"
Daphne took off her shoes and socks, "Yeah, I think I'll have better luck barefoot." She righted herself as she walked back to her starting position. "Let's try this again." Daphne took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Hermione stood motionless and waited for Daphne's second test. Hoping that she wouldn't get hurt and that her creation was as successful as Hermione had expected.
Daphne did the same thing as before and launched her body into a sprint, her body glided inches above the ground each step almost ten feet at a time. Once she was at a good enough speed she kicked her feet slightly off the ground and pushed her body over her feet. Before she realized it she had finished her cartwheel and was doing handspring after handspring until she neared the wall and she pushed her hands a bit more forcefully as she approached the wall. Daphne tucked her legs into her chest as she rounded off two, three, four times before landing gracefully from her fifteen foot jump.
Daphne was breathing incredibly heavy as she held her pose for a second before her arms and legs collapsed into a not so graceful heap on the ground.
"Daphne!" Hermione shouted as she ran over to her friend.
"That was amazing." Her head was resting against the ground and her chest was rising and falling so fast that she was beginning to get light headed. "Leppus Curre." Daphne said as she deactivated the rune. The room was spinning quickly.
Hermione waved her wand over Daphne checking for lingering effects. "It appears that you have a bit of residual energy that is stored in your muscles."
Daphne pulled herself so she was sitting against the wall still breathing heavy. "McGonagall said that might be the case given the nature of the transfiguration."
"How did it feel?" Hermione asked the question she had been dying to ask since she activated the rune.
Daphne rested her head against the cold cushioned wall and closed her eyes, "It felt like I was flying and there was this tingling coursing through me. You were right by the way." She opened her eyes slightly. "I couldn't follow the movements with my eyes, but my muscles reacted on their own. It's also very exhausting, that was only one string of jumps. We use to do twenty at a time back at the Academy."
Hermione looked over her friend carefully before ending the diagnostic spell. "Well let's take it easy for right now, we'll try and find more time to practice."
Daphne added, "Also more space. These classrooms aren't going to be big enough for me to practice."
"All the more reason for us to find a training space that people won't be able to bother us in. Then we can get Harry to start teaching us." Hermione extended a hand and pulled the blonde up from the ground.
Daphne hopped up and shook off some of the dirt from her butt, "Thanks, we can start looking tomorrow during after Runes."
Daphne quickly put her school robes over her workout cloths and took a few calming breaths. She has only activated the rune for about 20 seconds and yet she was exhausted.
Hermione and Daphne cleaned up all their things and as they were walking out of the room Daphne's stomach growled, which caused both of the girls to laugh.
"We should get you something to eat." Hermione laughed.
Daphne check the time real quick and saw that it was almost curfew. "Dinners gone and, I don't have any more food in my Dorm. I have to get some more when we get to Hogsmead next weekend."
"Why don't you just go to the Kitchens?" Hermioned asked.
"Kitchens?" Daphne returned.
"Yeah they are located near the Hufflepuff common room behind a picture of fruit. Just tickle the pear." Hermione said triumphantly.
"And just why do you know where the Kitchens are?" Daphne asked with a wild smirk which caused Hermione's face to turn pink.
"Nothing like that. When your friends with Ron Weasley for so many years you learn how to get food after hours. We found it in our second year." Hermione began leading them towards the picture.
The two walked in somewhat awkward silence for a bit before Daphne broke it, "What do you think Harry and Cedric are working on?" Daphne knew that Hermione was in on the secret, she was the first one to know and was hoping that by getting closer to the brunette she might reveal what it was.
Hermione stiffened slightly and to anyone else they would never have noticed, but Daphne had known Hermione for several months and she had learned most of her signs. "That's a question for Harry…" She said as she stared into the ground.
"Come on Hermione, you-"
"STOP!" Hermione shouted as she stamped her foot. "I can't do that. You know that."
"And why not?" Daphne countered a bit of hostility in her voice.
"Because it's not my secret to tell. If Harry feels that he can't tell me something because I wont keep his secrets then how will WE" She said gesturing to Daphne and herself. "Know when things get too bad."
"GAH! Why are Gryffindors so fucking proud!" Daphne exclaimed as she whirled around the hallway.
"It's not pride Daphne its trust. Have you asked him?" Hermione suggested.
"No… Why would I ask?" Daphne countered.
"Because otherwise he won't think you care. You must have some idea of what his life was like at the Dursleys. If not than this conversation ends here." Hermione stood firm against her blonde friend.
"Of course I know what his life was like at the Dursleys! I want to go to their house and set it on fire with all of them in it! But what does this have to do with Harry?" Daphne was fuming now.
"EVERYTHING! Daphne, Harry has never had people who care about him or what he's doing. The teachers, the students, Dumbledore even the Weasleys who were like a second or first." Hermione's face lightened slightly. "Family. None of them treated him with respect. They always bossed him around told him what he could and couldn't do."
Daphne nodded as her rage stilled slightly. "That still doesn't explain why I should ask him."
Hermione walked over and grabbed Daphne by the shoulders, "Because it shows him that you care about him without trying to control him."
'Am I trying to control him?' Daphne asked herself as her face froze and she stared blankly at Hermione. "I wouldn't…. He doesn't think ...? I mean why would he?" Daphne thought out loud in a series of mumbles and questions.
Hermione watched with unwavering curiosity trying to figure out what was going on in Daphne's head. Daphne paced up and down the hallway for several minutes. Every once and while she would turn and raise her hand as if she was going to say something but turned back around to pacing.
"Daphne." Hermione called out tentatively.
Daphne stopped and turned to face her, "Hmm?" Her face was contorted slightly and she looked confused. She however was brought from her musing by a loud grumble from her stomach.
After a second both girls started laughing, "I guess we should keep going." Daphne said in a much more normal tone.
"We are here anyway." Hermione said gesturing to the painting a bit further down the hall.
Daphne and Hermione spent the next hour eating with Dobby and Winky and as they were about to leave Dobby overheard them talking about needing a place to practice.
"Ms Herminny, Dobby knows of a place that could works for yous training." Dobby said as he cleared off their plates.
"Excuse me Dobby, what was that?" Hermione said as she turned around.
Dobby bounced happily over to her, "Dobby knows of a place where yous can train. Is called the Come-and-Go-Room."
"Come and Go Room?" Daphne asked.
Dobby nodded happily, "Dobby will shows you come come." He said excitedly and practically ran out of the kitchen.
Daphne and Hermione looked at each other cautiously before they both shrugged. "I don't like this." Hermione said.
"Me neither, but what do we have to lose?" Daphne responded.
"Comes on, Ms. Hermanny and Ms. Greengrasses. Dobby shows you!" He poked his head through the portrait.
The two witches followed quietly behind the bouncing elf. Dobby led them to the seventh floor and pointed to a bare wall in front of a painting of Barnabas the Barmy. "Is here mistresses."
Hermione looked curious while Daphne sighed, "What's here Dobby, its just a wall."
"This be the Room of Requirement. Yous have to walk in front of the wall three times and think about what you want. The room appears with what evers yous need." Dobby was jumping up and down.
The girls looked at each other before shrugging. Daphne paced back and forth three times thinking of a room that had a sofa and firepit. Sure enough as Daphne walked by the third time a Wooden doorway appeared in the wall across from the painting. Both Daphne and Hermione looked at each other before Hermione walked over to the door and opened it.
Inside was an all wood room with two large sofas positioned around an empty fire pit. "Cool." Was Daphne's response as she looked over Hermione's shoulder. "Exactly what I asked for."
Hermione was at a loss for words as she wandered into the room. Her brain was spinning threw all the possibilities for how such a room could exists. "Ask for something else." Hermione said in a curious tone.
Daphne narrowed her eyes as if she was going to say something mean to Hermione but decided it wasn't worth it, "Fine." She concentrated and pictured a track like the one at the Greengrass Manor.
Sure enough the room responded and Daphne and Hermione were surrounded by an all dirt track that looked to be about a quarter mile in size. "Woah…" Daphne exclaimed as she spun in circles following the formation of the track along with a few balance beams and a twenty foot wooden wall with a few lengths of knotted rope.
Hermione was trying very hard to keep her excitement in check. "Daphne, this… room is AMAZING!" She finally said as she lost her control. She walked around and poked some of the training tools that had appeared. "This room takes your desire and forms the best situation for that desire to happen. I wonder where all this stuff comes from."
Dobby raised his hand, "This all be stuff that has been lost or forgotten over the years at Hogwarts. Its being stored here all these years."
Daphne turned to Dobby, "So your saying that this room can create basically whatever we want?"
"Whatever yous think of." Dobby nodded.
"Interesting…" Daphne said as her eyes wandered around the room and her brain spun rapidly as she tried to think of what this would mean for them and Harry.
"We certainly can do our workouts in here." Hermione said happily.
Daphne didn't respond right away. She thought for a second and then a metal manikin appeared. She didn't even hesitate before firing a piercing hex at the shoulder of the manikin. She smiled happily when the arm fell off only to reattach a few seconds later. "PERFECT!"
Hermione was just as excited when the manikin reformed. "Astonishing. The room knew to reform the target dummy."
Daphne ran over to her, "I didn't even tell it to do that, it just did it on its own." Daphne was overwhelmed with joy. The Room of Requirement would solve many of their problems. Especially if they could find a way to make sure that no one else could get in. Daphne was particularly interested in bringing Harry and being able to have some one on one time without fear of being interrupted.
"We have to tell Harry and the others." Daphne said coming out of her thoughts.
Hermione smile dropped, "You're in charge of that."
"What? Why?" Daphne looked incredulous before it dawned on her that Hermione was giving her an opening to win back some of Harry's trust. "Fine, I'll tell him after breakfast tomorrow."
With that the two of them left the Room of Requirement and snuck back to their dorms.
As Daphne walked into the Slytherin Common Room she noticed that several things were out of place. One, none of the first or second years were there and two the room was mostly empty save for two people. One of them she expected the other she was quite curious about.
Blaise Zabini and Tracy Davis were sitting by the fire with glum looks on their face. They both waved Daphne down as she walked in. "Hey Daph another late night?" Tracy said wiggling her eyebrows
"Tracy!" Daphne's voice rose several octaves. Which caused Blaise to smile, while he was wasn't friends with the two outcasted Slytherin witches, he was however on friendly terms with both of them.
"Interesting week so far Greengrass?" Blaise asked as he stood non threateningly
Daphne scoffed, "Hardly. What keeps you out of bed after hours on a Wednesday?"
"Thursday." Tracy said annoyingly. Which forced Daphne to huff and her eye to twitch.
"I was just keeping our mutual friend here company while she waited for your return." He said proudly.
"I don't know what game your playing Zabini, but I am on to it." Daphne said way more seriously than she had intended.
"Easy off the accelerator Greengrass, I am not here to cause problems. On the contrary, I am here to offer some advice. I've heard that Nott and Flint are not too happy with your stunt the other day and I overheard Pucey talking to Montegue and they too are looking to go after Potter." Blaise said as he stood up and spoke in a low whisper.
Daphne registered the intel and wondered if this was from Draco or Blaise being Blaise. "Thank you." Daphne responded with a far away stare and nod.
Daphne went out and pulled Tracy out of her chair. "Come on we are going to bed." She said with a strain as Tracy didn't quite want to leave the chair she was in. "Zabini look for an Owl in the coming weeks." She said as she turned around and gave him a soft smile.
Blaise nodded, "Good night Greengrass, Davis." He said politely.
As Thursday rolled around Daphne was not able to find any time to talk with Harry as Thursday was her busiest school day. Runes and Arthimancy with Hermione were however the highlights of her week. So it wasn't until Dinner that Daphne finally had a moment to think.
She walked into the Great Hall with Hermione, who was talking about how to improve the Protego shield by changing the runic arrays from hexagons to do-decahedrons. Daphne honestly cared and tried to follow what the witch was saying but she was just too tired. She searched the room trying to find Harry or Tracy. Luckily for her she found both of them sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table with Neville and Ginny.
Daphne quickly pulled Hermione along and headed that direction. Fortunately for her Tracy saw that she was coming and scooted over slightly so she could sit next to her boyfriend. Daphne swung one leg over the bench before she plopped down with a satisfying thud.
"Tough day?" Tracy posed mischievously. Daphne could only respond by glaring at her. "I take that as a yes." Tracy giggled.
Harry who was finishing chewing a piece of pork wiped his face with his napkin and reach out and rested his hand on the bottom of her chin and pulled every so slightly so she was facing him. Daphne's heart was already racing but now the heat, the heat that she only felt around Harry began to spread across her stomach and through her chest. Harry leaned over and kissed her with the softest of kisses on the lips.
Daphne let out a soft moan and her shoulders relaxed and body began to tingle slightly. Merlin she needed this. She didn't even realize that she had wrapped her arms around his neck and was gently pawing at the hem of his shirt. The kiss lasted maybe ten seconds but to Daphne it felt like an hour, and she wanted more.
As Harry pulled away Daphne was licking the saliva off her bottom lip and smiling dumbly at him, "Better?" Harry asked smugly as he too was licking her chapstick off his lips.
Daphne didn't respond vocally she just nodded and the smile that was on her face told everyone around that was exactly what she needed.
Ginny chuckled as Neville blushed and went back to eating. Hermione smiled at her friend and wondered just what was going on her head that had Daphne all worked up.
"So, Hermione and I found a place that we could use for workouts and such." Daphne said in a hushed voice that only the six of them could hear.
Harry's eye twitched and his head perked up before he leaned in to listen more. "We were eating last night in the Kitchens and Dobby told us about this special room." Hermione took over because Daphne had food in her mouth.
"What kind of room?" Harry asked, by now all of them were leaning in as to hear what they were saying.
"The kind of room that has a lot of things…" Daphne said as cryptically as possible. She didn't want to tip anyone off before she could show them.
Harry pondered for a moment before Hermione spoke back in normal tones, "We could show you after dinner?"
Daphne nodded in agreement, "It's a bit of a trek but that should make it all the better if we decide to use it."
"Sounds like we have a plan." Ginny said as she was almost finished eating. "I can't stay too late, I have to do some Charms revisions with Collin."
"I have a special project that I am doing for Professor Sprout and I have to be in the Greenhouse tonight. We are experimenting with Lunar Shadows." Neville was very excited he had been talking to everyone about it all week. Lunar Shadows were these very rare flowers that 26 days out of the month they looked like weeds but on Full Moons they would bloom into these dark violet flowers that sparkled with lightning and fire.
About ten minutes later the sextette left the Great Hall heading towards the seventh floor. It was a few hours before curfew so they shouldn't have too much trouble from teachers, except for maybe Umbridge.
Daphne made a note that Umbridge was pretty occupied with the Weasley twins as they were leaving that it was unlikely that she would interfere with them.
As Daphne lead the group to the picture of Barnabas the Barmy she was walking arm in arm with Harry. "So it just up ahead."
Harry was happy, because Daphne was happy. He had only heard a little bit about the room from Hermione earlier in the day, she was however quite insistent that Daphne would be the one to show him.
"Where are you taking us?" Neville asked after the almost twenty minute walk from the Great Hall.
Daphne walked in front of the painting and jump and presented the open wall that was across from it. "Dun da dah DA!" She exclaimed.
Tracy and Neville both were confused while Ginny was skeptical. "It's just a wall." Ginny said deadpanned.
Daphne smirked, "Watch, you walk in front of the painting three times and think of what you want." Daphne spoke as she paced back and forth. "Then-" A door started to appear out of the empty wall. "-the Room of Requirement will present itself to you."
Daphne quickly pulled Harry over to the door and gave him a joyful smile. She opened the door inward and gestured for them to enter. As Harry walked in he saw the room had several manikins all at varying distances from a large table that had many objects ranging from swords to nets to balls. The room also appeared to have cushioning charms on most of the walls and floor. There was also a few couches off the side along with two large green chalkboards. All in all it was perfect for any kind of training that they would need.
Harry spun in circles as he walked into the room, "I love magic." He said to himself, mostly.
As the rest of the group walked in their mouths dropped and eyes stared bug-eyed at the complexity of the room. Ginny being curious, "So the room can make whatever you want?"
"Basically, we haven't had much opportunity to test it as we only found it last night." Daphne conveyed.
"I did some research earlier-"
"In the library." Harry, Ginny, and Tracy all echoed and started giggling.
Hermione blew straight threw it. "- I found that the Room of Requirement is comprised of all things lost and forgotten at Hogwarts, and it is said that some of the objects date back to time of the Founders, several Millennia ago." Hermione said in her very know-it-all voice.
"So If I for example needed a table and chairs." Ginny was able to finish her train of thought. As she said it the room provided her with a small square table and four cushioned chairs around it. "Cool. I vote here!" Ginny said with a smile as she sat down comfortably in the wooden chair.
"I have to agree with Ginny." Hermione said as she too took a seat at the table.
Tracy quickly nodded and sat down with the two other girls leaving Neville, Daphne, and Harry standing.
"I think it's a bit much… but I can't complain." Neville said a bit nervous and out of his element. He'd only recently been hanging out with Harry and his friends. He was still very nervous about working with Daphne and Tracy. However any friend of Harry's was a friend of his.
All eyes turned towards Harry. "What?" He said as he began to shrink a little under the attention.
"What do you think Harry?" Hermione asked before Tracy could.
Daphne was standing right next to him in case he needed some kind of comfort or got anxious with everyone staring at him. She gently squeezed his hand to show that she was there for him.
"I… I think it's great…. I had no idea this kind of room existed." Harry was being truthful. "I think this will be perfect for our Defense Club."
The rest of the room all smiled at him and a few held breaths were released happily. Tracy raised her hand and before anyone realised, "We'll need a better name than Defense Club."
"I say we think on it and reconvene next Tuesday, 7:30pm right after dinner." Harry said after a yawn.
Nods and mutterings from everyone acknowledging Harry's suggestion, "Well ladies I have a paper to write." Ginny said as she pushed her chair back and walked over to Harry and Daphne. "Good job Greengrass." She said with a smirk and gave Harry and her a quick hug before walking out.
Hermione and Neville were next to depart leaving Tracy, Daphne and Harry. "So Potter. How do you feel about having your own person retreat that you can whisk away our Daphne too?" Tracy grinned.
Daphne and Harry both blushed slightly, "I… Umm... " Harry stammered.
Tracy meanwhile starting laughing so hard that she almost fell over. "You should have seen your face Harry."
"TRACY!" Daphne yelled as she began chasing her friend around the room. Eventually she caught up to her tackled her into the ground. Fortunately for both of them the ground was cushioned.
After a few minutes of tickling and rolling around on the ground Tracy yielded. "I am Sorry! I'm Sorry! It was just too priceless."
Harry walked over and picked up his girlfriend and helped dust her off. Afterwards Harry extended his hand to pull Tracy up whose clothes were all a mess from the wrestling.
"You might want to consider wearing a different color than hot pink." Harry said with an eye wiggle. It was Tracy's turn to blush. She just started laughing.
"I knew eventually you'd notice."
"TRACY!" Both Harry and Daphne screamed.
Tracy winced backwards at the sound of their loud unisonded voices. "All right all right I'll stop… Sheesh tough crowd."
The next hour or so was spent with the three of them talking and laughing about nothing in particular. When ten o'clock rolled around Daphne suggested that they all head back to their dorms.
"Oh Daph." Harry remembered that he wanted to tell her something. "Tomorrow I am holding the Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs so I'll likely be busy most of the day."
Daphne frowned but understood that she wasn't going to be able to monopolize most of his time. Harry had a lot on his plate. "Okay, but please try and stay on your broom this time." Which earned a snicker from Tracy.
Harry frowned, "I can only do my best. You think it was fun falling two hundred feet and then having my bones removed is something I want to repeat again?"
Daphne smiled and sidled up to his arm and kissed him gently. "Better not."
The Trio left the Room of Requirement and with the aid of the Marauders Map were able to return to their dorms safely and without incident.
Daphne all the while failed to notice the faint scarring on his right hand.
When Harry returned to the Common Room he looked across at the bulletin board where he had posted sign-ups for Quidditch Try-outs.
The team was basically full, Angelina, Katie and Alicia were all-star starting chasers. The Trio had the most goals scored over the past three years than any other trio in the past twenty years. Angelina was said to be in contact with Holyhead Harpies about maybe a practice team try-out after this year.
Fred and George, your not going to find a better working set of Beaters ever. They practically can read each other's mind and know the others movements.
Harry was going to play Seeker no matter what. He had the highest catch rate out of any Seeker in the past fifty years. However they were going to try-out for Reserve Seeker
That left Keeper. Oliver Wood graduated this past year and has moved on to be Puddlemere United's Reserve Keeper. So Harry really only needed to hold try-outs for Keeper and maybe a few reserve spots.
As he walked over the list he saw five names. Seamus Finnagan, Cormac McClaggan, Ginevra Weasley, Ronald Weasley and Colin Creevey. Harry smiled when he saw Ginny's name on the list. He'd known for years that she was an excellent flyer, despite her brothers attempts to keep her on the ground she could fly circles around all of them. He however was worried about Ron trying out.
Harry knew how much Ron had talked about Quidditch and how he wanted nothing more than to be on the team. However Harry wasn't sure how well he would take it if he didn't make the team.
So Harry smiled and walked off to have a two hour nap before meeting with Draco for his 4am Prefects Duty.