5. Mending Bridges

"Where have you been?" she asked, as Harry entered, sweating like a pig, his shirt clinging to his body. She couldn't help but notice he had a nice body.

He looked at her for a moment, then he proceeded to his room, completely ignoring her. She sighed.

Okay, she had that one coming. She didn't have sufficient sleep and lack of sleep made her cranky. Maybe she shouldn't have been cross with him for a minor offence.

Alright, maybe it was not any offence at all, but she didn't want to admit it.

He had merely pointed out her flaw in casting technique while she was practicing a particularly difficult and complex charm that was taking a lot of time to master and being stressed and frustrated, she had flown off the handle, calling him an insufferable wanker who couldn't help himself butting in on others' business.

She also threw a quill at him, but it missed him, so no harm done.

She was totally willing to forgive him if he apologized.

She had to admit that it sounded completely bitchy even in her head. She knew she should go and apologize for her behaviour, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was Harry-Fucking-Potter, for Merlin's sake!

Granted, he had apologized for his stupid comments on their first day, but the thought of apologizing to Potter sent shivers of repulsion down her body.

Instead, she just decided to wait. After all, he was bound to forget about it sooner or later. Let him have his moment, and once he forgot the whole incident and started talking to her, she would carry on like there wasn't any trouble between them in the first place. The question was, how long would it take him to forget this whole thing?

The answer was very long.

A day turned to two days, four days, a week, two weeks, and Potter still ignored her. Sometimes, even she would forget about the whole incident and ask him a normal question. He always acted like she didn't exist, except for meetings. She considered complaining to Professor Snape or McGonagall about his behaviour, but she knew that although her head of house would love to find an excuse to try and remove Potter as the Head Boy, the thought was very childish. The incident was so long ago and so trivial, that she couldn't possibly bring it up and apologize after all this time, could she? Why couldn't Potter just move on?

She was also quite curious. Every day, he came in almost at the last minute before curfew, sweating all his worth, sometimes even sporting small cuts and bruises. At first she thought he was going to his quidditch practises, but he didn't take his broom with him on these occasions. She knew that he owned the Firebolt Supreme, supposedly the best broom in the world right now, which came out just a few months back.

So if he wasn't going to quidditch practises, and came back sweating profusely, where did he come from? She asked twice, and was ignored both times. Couldn't he at least tell her where he went and then continue to maintain his stupid vow of silence?

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"Harry Potter."

It was almost midnight, and Sirius considered if he was calling at a bad time. But Harry appeared in the mirror after three seconds.

"Hey Padfoot." He smiled at his godfather. Melanie called him Harry's dogfather, which amused both Harry and James, but Sirius insisted that godfather was his preferred title.

"Hey pup, bad time?"

"Nah, I was about to turn in for the night. What's up?" Sirius didn't usually call at midnight just to check on him.

"How's the Head Girl doing?" Sirius asked with an exaggerated leer, to which Harry rolled his eyes.

"Wouldn't know. Don't tell mum, but I'm not talking to her."

"What did you do this time?" Sirius asked, amused.

"Hey, what's with everyone assuming it's me who did something wrong?" he asked irately.

"It's usually you. Besides, it's a matter of principle. You can't ever say that the woman was wrong. Always admit that it was your fault, even if it wasn't." Sirius advised.

"Yeah that might be cool with girls I like or looking to date, not Greengrass. She's just a bitch. And this time I didn't do anything. It was her. I am serious." As he finished the sentence, he realized one second too late that he walked into a self-constructed trap.

"Don't say it, Padfoot, don't you say it-" he tried to warn the man, but by then it was impossible.

"No pup, I am Sirius, you are Harry." He said proudly, extremely satisfied with himself. Harry groaned.

"You know you are the worst, don't you?" he inquired. Padfoot gave him a winning smile.

"And you love me anyways. So, what did she do?" his face became (pardon the pun) serious once more. As Harry told him, he listened with a strange smile.

"What are you grinning at? Don't tell me it was my fault." Harry said with a frown. Sirius shook his head.

"No I wasn't going to say that. But don't you think two weeks is a bit harsh for such a thing? I mean, given the history between you two, this could be considered a goodnight kiss."

Ignoring the last comment, Harry shook his head.

"It's not the action itself, Padfoot. She was bummed out and frustrated, which is perfectly acceptable. Maybe even she was having her period at the time or something. But what I can't accept is the way she just expects me to forget it all and move on. I mean, I apologized to her during the first day for something I did unknowingly. She can't extend the same courtesy back to me? That is the reason I am not talking with her. Nothing else." He explained, feeling a bit light for saying this to someone. Then he looked at Sirius with curious eye.

"But I don't think you called me to ask about Greengrass at midnight. What's up Padfoot?"

The man looked at something above the mirror for a few moments, probably organizing his words.

"There's been a breakout from Azkaban. You heard about it, I assume?"

"Yes. Do you know who escaped?" Actually Harry didn't care for all the names. He already suspected some of the names. The look on Sirius's face confirmed it before he spoke.

"All Death Eaters. Wormtail, the Lestranges, everyone of importance. But I have a news."

"Go on." Harry nodded.

"Barty Crouch Jr. is alive."

Sometimes Sirius wished the mirror didn't show everything so clearly. His Godson's face didn't move a muscle, but his eyes quickly showed a wide variety of emotions very quickly. Recognition, surprise- no, shock, curiosity and finally a venomous hatred.

"Good. But how?" he asked in a slightly strained voice.

Sirius explained how Barty Crouch Sr. used polyjuice to switch between his wife and his son, fulfilling his wife's dying request, and smuggling him out of Azkaban and keeping him locked in his own house under the Imperius.

"Remember the Death Eater who impersonated Moody during the Triwizard Tournament?" Sirius asked and Harry nodded. After turning the Cup into a portkey and making sure Neville touched it first, the Death Eater abandoned his cover and fled, probably to his master. Mad-Eye couldn't identify the Death Eater, being in a poor condition himself and not having the magical eye, so there was no way to find out the identity of the impostor.

"Turns out he was Barty Crouch. The junior, I mean. His father turned up a few days back, confessed everything and tried to get a decreased sentence in return of his confession." Sirius explained. Harry looked contemplating for a moment. Then his eyes lit up like when someone makes a connection.

"Wait, isn't that what Karkaroff did? Wasn't Crouch the Head of DMLE when that happened?" he asked incredulously. Sirius laughed at that. Harry was quite well versed in the history of Voldemort's rise and fall and re-rise to power and the events that were with it.

"Yeah. And Crouch was actually the person who Karkaroff made the deal with. Now he's gone ahead and pulled a Karkaroff himself. Gotta love irony. Or maybe the old wanker figured that's how things are done at the ministry."

"Did he get a deduction on his sentence? And more importantly, the Tournament was three years ago. Why did he come out clean now?" Harry asked, although having a clue to the second question.

"Unfortunately yes. Despite being in a batshit crazy condition, Crouch is still a politician. He got four years in Azkaban, but that's a bloody joke because even if he manages to stay sane for five years in his condition, it's unlikely that the Dementors would last that long in Azkaban. Ministry is having more trouble controlling them than ever. They reckon that the creatures would join Voldemort's ranks within a few months. As to why come out now, no one is sure. He claims he was too mentally unstable, being under the Imperius for so long and what not, but most of us figure that Crouch Jr. now on the loose, if he was seen or captured, Crouch Sr. would be called in for questioning. He just wanted to save his arse. Well, save it more than he could've saved in that case, anyway."

"Hmm. That's what I thought too. Makes sense."

"James and I are trying to track down the rat. Remus is still trying to find a weakness in Greyback's pack, so he will be busy. We might go silent for a few days, just letting you know."

Harry knew it was necessary, and he wanted to kill the rat just as bad as them, but he still hated them going silent. Last time that happened, they caught a group of Death Eaters but Sirius came home with his left arm grabbing his severed right arm. Thankfully the healers at St. Mungos managed to reattach it promptly, leaving a thick scar at the joining.

"You gonna be okay, kid?" Sirius asked gently. He knew Harry hated this, but it couldn't be helped. Thankfully, James had taken the duty of telling Lily. Merlin knew the stag animagus was in for a rough night.

"Yeah, sure. I'll keep myself busy." Harry replied with a steady voice. "Just let me know when you come back, won't you?"

"Of course, pup." Sirius smiled. He knew Harry was putting on a brave face for his sake and he didn't comment on it. "Another thing, pup."

"Yeah?"

"Don't give the Greengrass girl too much grieve. Life is too short to hold grudges over simple things. See you around." With a wink, he vanished from the mirror, leaving Harry staring at his own reflection.

"Whatever, mutt." He muttered as he put away the mirror. A part of him knew that Sirius was right and he should just get over it, and to be completely honest, with all that was happening around him, he wasn't sure he could find it in himself to hold a grudge against Greengrass. Whatever perks Heads had, having separate dorms meant that the two Heads were big parts of each other's social life. Harry spent twice the time with Greengrass than he did with Neville, which was a depressing thought by itself.

Speaking of Neville, he had yet to ask his parents how their conversation with Madame Longbottom went. He wanted to ask Nev about it the other day, but he said he didn't hear from his gran. He would've talked some more, but Nev said Dumbledore was expecting him.

Making a mental note to himself to talk to his mother the next day, Harry turned over and closed his eyes. He had a feeling tonight's sleep would not be very peaceful.

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The next morning found Harry slumped at the entrance to the Head's dorm, quite exhausted with several pulled muscles. He was finding it impossible to crawl back to his room and make the tea that would give him the energy to go recover from the exercise.

He cursed himself softly. The news from last night had got him fired up, and in his blind determination to train as hard as humanly possible, he had overexerted himself severely and he knew that he could not fall asleep like his body wanted to. Because if he slept through the exhaustion he wouldn't wake up before evening.

As luck would have it, Greengrass came out of her room and was coming down the stairs. She didn't notice him yet, but it was only a matter of time. He considered falling asleep (which would be unbelievably easy for him right now) to avoid the embarrassment of seeing Greengrass find him like this, but decided to give one last push to go to his room.

Unfortunately, as soon as he stood, his legs gave away and he fell face first on the floor. Daphne yelped.

"Holy shit! Potter, what the hell happened to you?"

"N'thin…. jus' tired." He mumbled, finding it difficult to move his mouth as his face was smashed against the floor.

Daphne ran down the stairs and checked him for any signs of injury. To her surprise, apart from a few cuts and bruises that were fading away, and being sweaty as hell, he looked fine.

"Wait here, I'll get Pomfrey." She went for the door, but Harry managed to grab her leg.

"No need… I'll be fine. Just help me… to my room." He managed to turn his head enough to speak somewhat clearly. Daphne looked torn for a moment. On one hand, he definitely wasn't okay and needed to see the nurse, but on the other hand, he clearly wanted to avoid the hospital wing, and she could understand that.

"Alright then, let me float you." She pointed her wand at him and levitated him in front of her as they went to the door to his room. "Can I open it?" she asked him. She had put some protections to prevent anyone to enter her room without her permission except for a few people. She expected him to have some protections as well.

He touched her arm and she felt a tingling sensation quickly spreading from the place he touched.

"Now you can." He said with a small grin. She raised her eyebrows because he didn't have him wand in his hand but she definitely felt some magic when he touched her. He didn't offer any explanations and she huffed at that but opened the door and led him inside.

His room was very organized. More organized than her. She expected a big mess like she assumed all boys' rooms are, but he didn't even have one stray piece of cloth or a book lying about. On a small table beside his bed was a tea pot and the ingredients neatly arranged. She dumped him on his bed and after another glance at his room, turned to leave. He called after her retreating back.

"Greengrass, wait."

She turned and looked at him questioningly.

"Tea?" he offered, already dragging his hands to make a cup.

"Shouldn't you sleep? You look too tired to make tea."

He shook his head as she sat on a comfortable looking chair beside the bed. With great difficulty, he made a full cup for himself and a quarter cup for her. She frowned at the mostly empty cup.

"Are you taking the phrase 'I'll have a sip' too literally, or did you run out of ingredients?" she asked with a bit of irritation leaking in her voice. After all, she helped his sorry arse to bed and he couldn't be bothered to give her a full cup of tea after offering it himself?

"That's more than you need. Just drink it." He replied, before sipping his cup. She frowned at the comment but did as told, thinking that if he was drinking it, it meant the tea was not a prank. Probably.

As soon as she drank the first sip, she felt like she woke up from a deep sleep and was now wide awake. She felt like she could conquer the world today and still have some energy left.

"WHOA! What was that?" she all but shouted. He chuckled.

"I usually drink it after my exercise, so that I can spend the rest of the day like I have slept a solid 8 hours. You drank it after waking up, so you'll feel a bit hyper till noon if you finish the amount I gave you."

Daphne immediately put down her cup, not wanting to be hyper for even a moment more than she had to.

"What's this tea anyway?" she asked curiously, feeling the energizing effect leaving slowly, but still giving her the wide awake feeling.

"It's just a gift from a friend. It is not something you can find in a shop around here."

He drank the rest of his tea as she looked around his room awkwardly. As soon as he finished his cup, he was on his feet, looking like he was not half dead only minutes ago, and proceeded to change his still wet-from-the-sweat shirt to a fresh one. Daphne tried not to look, but she felt her mouth getting a little drier as she took more than a couple glances at his shirtless body. Say what you will about Potter, his workouts really showed. Fortunately, she successfully avoided getting caught staring as she turned away right before he looked at her.

"Listen Greengrass, thanks for the help. I really appreciate it." He started awkwardly, knew that he had to do this now. "And… I also wanted to tell you I'm sorry I ignored you for the last few weeks. I want to say that I was mad at you, but I guess it was a bit childish of me as well."

Seeing him wringing his hands and not meeting her eyes, she knew he was sincere and she felt bad. "Yeah, it's okay. And I think…. I think I was quite rude to you the other day as well. Sorry for that." She managed a small smile and saw he had a small grin on his face as well.

"Alright, now don't go crying all over my carpet with your emotional outbursts, blondie." He smirked as her face changed from apologetic to outraged.

"Why you little-"

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The quidditch try outs for Gryffindor team was rapidly becoming a headache for Harry. He missed his old team with Wood as the captain. The team he had was nowhere near the old one's calibre. He felt that Ginny and himself were the only decent players in the team. Ron still had horrible nerve problems that people like Malfoy could easily exploit. Last year he had the option to bench him in favour of McLaggen, who despite being a loudmouth, was a good Keeper. But Cormac graduated last year, making Ron Weasley the only person with any kind of keeping qualities. Sadly, Ron knew it too, and he reacted in all the worst possible ways. He acted like trying out was an insult to his abilities and kept talking down to everyone. And Harry would bet his Firebolt Supreme that this would cause him to be nervous as match day approached. He idly wondered if his nervousness during performing was the reason for his breakup with Hermione Granger.

Ginny was and excellent chaser, easily on par with Angelina Johnson if not better. Demelza, the second chaser was not bad either, who had the potential to be as good if she trained hard. The third chaser spot was open, and Harry was hoping someone other than Dean Thomas would get it. Dean was a good friend, but he wasn't that good of a chaser and his breakup with Ginny last year caused some friction in the team that almost cost them a match last season. Two chasers not passing the quaffle to each other unless absolutely necessary was noticed right away by Ravenclaw and the beaters isolated Katie quickly and Gryffindor were in deep trouble. It was only Harry's prompt actions that saw them grab a victory by only 20 points.

The beaters, Jimmy and Ritchie, were alright, but he still missed the twins' excellence. He couldn't find any decent backup for them though, which had him a little worried. He just hoped none of them would suffer an injury.

"Alright everyone, gather around." He called out loud, Ginny standing beside him, being the vice-captain of the team. "We have selected the main roster and we have a few people as reserves as well, in case of any injuries and to help with practice sessions as well. If anyone wants to bow out, now would be a good time because once the team is announced, you have to attend every practice unless you are in the hospital wing, and trust me when I say that the practice sessions are not going to be very pleasant."

He saw a few grimaces, but no one left. They all saw Harry's training sessions from last year and only the really interested ones turned up for the try outs.

"The main Keeper is Ron Weasley. Denis Creevey will be the reserve Keeper." Small applause was heard as Ron looked around importantly and Denis's friends clapped him on the back. Ginny rolled her eyes at Ron.

"The beaters are Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote. There are no reserve beaters, so make sure you guys stay out of the infirmary." Ginny said, giving them a wink. They grinned, happy to be back on the team.

"The main chasers are Ginny Weasley," Harry read as Ginny gave a small bow, smiling. "Demelza Robins and Dean Thomas. Reserve chasers will be Thomas Clarke and Pete Smalling." The two first years high fived each other. He had convinced McGonagall that since school rules prohibits first years owning brooms, it wouldn't be breaking a rule or making an exception if they were on the team and played with Harry's spare broom, his old Nimbus 2000. Since there were two first years on the team, Harry would have to get his dad's spare broom, a Nimbus 2001, for the team as well. He was sure his father would not mind.

"And the seeker is Harry, obviously." Ginny announced like it was the most natural thing in the world, which it was. "I'll be his reserve, which is why we have two reserve chasers. Anyway, that's it. Congratulations to everyone who made the team, and for those who didn't, train hard and try again next year because three members of the first team will graduate at the end of this year, so there will be plenty of openings available. So goodbye and hope to see you next year." She finished her speech as everyone except the team went their way. Harry tried to ignore Parvati waving at him from the stands. He used to like that girl once, but she was acting a bit too airy, for lack of a better word, for him.

"I'm going to make sure you get this badge next year and I'm sure Minnie will agree. You are doing to make a fantastic captain, Gin." Harry praised his vice-captain as she beamed.

"Thanks Harry, it means a lot coming from you."

Harry grinned back at her and stood in front of the team and looked them all in the eye. It was a technique his father taught him. Looking at your team members in the eyes before a speech made them more attentive and take his words to heart. It made them see him as someone leading from the front instead of ordering them around. Satisfied as they all looked eagerly at him, he began his welcoming speech.

"Before a particularly tough match, my old captain, Oliver Wood, told me something I still follow by heart. He said to me, catch the snitch, or die trying…"

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"Hey blondie." Harry called as he entered through the portrait. Daphne was sitting there with her face scrunched up in concentration, a few books and rolls of parchment lying in front of her.

"Mophead." She absently nodded, not even looking at him. Until he came close to her.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously. It didn't look like familiar. She sighed and turned to him, about to snap, but stopping herself just in time.

"None of… It's just a paper I am writing for Flitwick. He said if I can submit a good paper, he would offer to tutor me for Mastery. A charms mastery will be quite useful." She explained. Harry was a bit surprised at her because she usually didn't share information that readily, but he quickly covered up his surprise.

"Alright, sounds neat. So what are you writing the paper on?"

"Spell crafting, mainly. How spells are invented and perfected. It's quite a generalized topic, but the research done on it are surprisingly vague. Apparently spell crafters do not publish their work process." She said with a little bit of frustration.

"I might be able to help you there. Wait for a bit." Harry said, turning to his room. Daphne was bewildered. How was he going to help her? After a few minutes, Harry returned, holding a mirror in hand.

"What are you doing, Potter?" she asked warily. If the mirror was a set up for another blonde joke, she would have to push him off the astronomy tower. He grinned in response.

"Okay, so I talked to my mum and she said she would be happy to chat with you."

Daphne was even more confused than before. Why would she want to talk with Potter's mum? "That's good to hear, but what does this have to do with my paper? I thought you said you would help."

"Oh sorry, forgot to mention that part. Mum was a spell crafter. She has detailed notes on her work and she would love to discuss it with you if you can meet her."

Daphne was shocked. First of all, she didn't know the muggleborn woman was a spell crafter, and secondly, she was dumbfounded at Potter being so readily helpful. "Wow, thanks Potter. I didn't know your mother was a spell crafter, I didn't find her name in any of the references."

"She took up spell crafting right after graduating, but she had to take a huge break when she was… ill." He said uncomfortably. "She didn't take it up again after getting well."

Daphne felt horribly awkward. She knew that Mrs. Potter was in the permanent damage ward of St. Mungos for 12 years, but the topic never came up in a conversation between her and Potter. Mostly because their conversations usually consisted of insults and cursing until very recently.

"Oh, well… thanks again for this. When can I meet her?" she asked quickly, hoping to avoid the uncomfortable topic. He was relieved as well.

"I can ask her to come over at the next Hogsmeade weekend. Or if you want, you can talk to her with the mirror." He waved his mirror, not really secretive about it.

"What mirror?" she asked curiously. She had seen that mirror when she went to his room and thought that maybe Potter was a little vain.

"I have this two-way mirror that I can talk with other people who has another mirror like this. My dad and his friends made these when they were at school. Daphne nodded, impressed.

"That's an impressive bit of magic. Why didn't your dad and his friends market this? This looks dead useful." She glanced at the mirror, wishing she had one to talk to her mother.

"I think they did it for themselves and didn't want to do business with it. Never asked about it, really."

They agreed that Daphne would meet Lily Potter in the next Hogsmeade weekend, which was just a week away. As Harry went back to his room, a thought suddenly came into Daphne's head. What if Harry had already told his mother about their violent rivalry and she hated Daphne for cursing her son? She was sure if he chatted about her to his mother, it would likely be a biased story. And the worst thing was that she couldn't even cancel on her now as that would make her look even worse.

I'm going to meet an angry spell crafter and she might permanently turn me into a frog.

A/N: There you go, Harry and Daphne finally share a full conversation without insulting each other. Miracles do happen, it seems. Happy Halloween to everyone who is celebrating. Consider this slightly early chapter a Halloween treat. Review please!