**A/N: Our wonderful thanks to J.K. Rowling for the use of her characters and her world. I do so enjoy having fun with them. Enjoy the new chapter guys, we've made it halfway through.**
Harry sat out in the field as spring had finally arrived. Flowers were sprouting everywhere and the weather was warmer. It was a beautiful day, but Harry knew that he may die during the final trial. He wasn't sure many people would care if he was gone. He knew Daphne, Hermione, and possibly Hagrid would miss him. His future looked bleak at best. His thoughts did not match the beautiful day in brightness, but were rather dark.
Daphne was walking toward the lake, when she spotted Harry. She turned and made a beeline to him. She came up on him and watched him for a moment. "Harry?"
"Oh hey." he said softly, hiding his thoughts from her.
She sat down next to him. "You alright?" She asked as she examined his facial expression, seeing he had something on his mind that he wasn't telling her, but she knew better than to press him.
"Just accepting possible death during this tournament." Harry replied as he closed his eyes and felt the warm air blowing against his face.
She wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. "We're not going to let that happen Harry." She said as a small tear fell down her face.
"Daphne," he said softly, unsure of how to explain how he was feeling.
"Yes Harry," She said pulling away to look at him, feeling sad for him.
"I know how impossible this task will be for those who are of age, much less a fourth year student with very little support. I don't see myself living through this year." Harry sighed as he brought his knees to his chest.
She nodded but didn't speak. She sat with him in silence staring out into the beautiful field with him. A few moments later she looked at him. "I love you Harry. You know that right?" She asked him.
"Yeah, you always say that." He replied softly, fear of failure and being abandoned filling him as he resolutely picked at grass near his feet.
Her face turned to a look of confusion. "You don't believe me, do you?" She asked quietly, feeling slightly taken aback by his response.
"I know you love me, at least on some level. But you may leave me. Almost everyone leaves me in some form or another. I'm not used to people staying," he said sadly and a little angrily, as he held her hand.
She nodded not wanting to fight with him. She simply just laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm not going to leave you."
He lovingly stroked her head before he commanded, "If I die, take my cloak and broomstick."
"Okay," she said softly as she stared at the flowers in the field.
He wrapped his arms around Daphne as he asked her "Wanna help me train for the task?"
"Of course." She said with a small smile as she wrapped her arms around him.
He nodded as he opened his bag to reveal a large, leather back book titled Advance Combat Magic of Old.
Her eyebrows raised as she saw the tome. "What do you think you're preparing for?" She asked calmly.
"Anything and everything." He replied simply as he looked her in the eyes before saying "If I show you what I've been practicing, would you hate me?"
"Harry, I could never hate you." She said looking at him, then to the book and back. She took hold of his arm showing she'd support him no matter what he felt he needed to do.
He sighed softly before kissing her quickly as he flipped to a chapter that read: Curses of the Ancient Time: Light and Dark.
"Curses?" She whispered in shock as she read the words off the page in front of her.
"I almost died fleeing a damn dragon, so I need something to give me an edge. I was focused on mostly light spells, but now I know a few dark ones." He stated.
She nodded, "we can't practice here though." She said as a smile rolled across her face.
"Of course, let's go I wanna see someone first and see if they can find us a place." He stood up and held his hand out for Daphne, who took his hand and stood and allowed him to lead her.
Harry and Daphne walked through the corridors of the castle, to the painting of fruit. He tickled the pear, which giggled and opened to the kitchen. The elves were busily baking and cleaning, one looked up at him and asked, "Whats can we do for you, sir?"
Harry grinned and asked, "Have you seen Dobby?"
"Just a moment sir," the little elf clicked his finger and called out, "Dobby!" Dobby appeared wearing a black sock on one foot, a brightly colored striped sock on the other and a toga with the Hogwarts' crest and started crying in joy into Harry's knee.
Daphne looked at the elf and giggled. "Oh my."
"Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Dobby has missed you so much, sir!" the elf beamed up at Harry, who tried his best to pry him off.
Daphne laughed at the silly elf, and looked at Harry with a smile.
Finally, Harry managed to pull Dobby off, "Dobby, do you know of a place Daphne and I can go to train for the tournament without interruptions?."
Dobby nodded, "Yes, Harry Potter, follow me." He took Harry's hand and led him from the kitchens up the many staircases.
Daphne followed the pair, grinning at the silly, excited elf. She noticed that Harry seemed off somehow, she just didn't know how.
Dobby led them to the seventh floor and stopped in front of a blank wall opposite of a tapestry showing Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls to dance the ballet. Dobby smiled up at Harry and explained, "We call this the Come and Go Room. Thinks about what you be needing, and the room will appear."
Harry raised an eyebrow before closing his eyes and walked in front of the wall three times, and focused on what he needed. He heard Daphne gasp behind him, and opened his eyes to see a door. Harry opened the door and saw a massive room filled with several books and training dummies, alongside several plates of food and a sleeping bag. He walked into the room in awe of what he saw.
"Thank you Dobby!" Harry called to the elf who was smiling proudly.
"Call me if you be needing anything, Harry Potter, sir!" And Dobby disappeared with a crack.
Daphne had followed Harry inside, closing the door behind her. She looked around the room knowing this was exactly what they needed. And Harry could sleep here instead of at Hagrid's or outside. Harry had been smart to have asked the silly little elf. "Harry are you sure you want me to train with you? I'm scared I'll hurt you. I'm much more advanced than you seem to think. Daddy feared that something may happen and had me training over the summer with a dueling master. I read that book and mastered most of those curses and hexes."
"Good! You can explain things to me then. I have nothing to lose, and I don't fear pain. I need to survive this task, somehow." Harry took off his robe and threw it in the corner by the sleeping bag. He pulled out his wand and cast, "Confrigo!" blasting the training dummy to the far wall.
She sighed and walked to him to adjust his stance. "If you flourish you wand like this, your attack will be much quicker and stronger." She instructed, waving her wand and saying, "Confrigo!" The dummy next dummy was blasted so hard it shattered. She waved her wand and cast a reparo quietly so the dummies fixed themselves and moved back into place.
"Fuck! That was hot Daphne." He stepped toward her and pulled her into his arms roughly. "But I fucking hate that you are so much stronger and better at magic than I am." He let go of her and pushed her away just as roughly as he had pulled her to him. She fell to her bum and winced. He turned to the training dummy and cast a fire curse, setting it ablaze.
She stood to her feet and walked slowly toward the seething boy in front of her, "Harry, I'm not better. My magic for some weird reason is freakishly strong, and Daddy insisted I harness it. It is dangerous to not know how to harness your magic correctly. That is why we go to school. I can teach you to harness your magic to be much faster and stronger. You have the ability, just lack the confidence."
"I already told you I want your help! Fuck!" He screamed in frustration throwing himself onto the sleeping bag, putting his head in his hands.
She waved her wand to cast a flame extinguishing charm. She knelt in front of Harry, "How are you going to learn if you're sulking? What I will be teaching you will be hands on, not like how our half-arsed to care professors teach." She stood and pointed her wand at his face.
He looked up at his girlfriend. Something in him was growling in pleasure at her confidence, but another part of him wanted to show her his strength. He was so used to having wands in his face, he wasn't phased as he stood and asked,"Where do we begin?"
"Defense" she started, looking at him seriously, but with a small smile on her face, "I will fire offensive spells and curses alike at you, and I want you block them anyway you know how. I want to see what you already know and can do. Then I will teach you the best way to defend yourself. I already know we need to work on your footwork."
Harry nodded, knowing how to defend himself, and made his way to the far wall before turning to face his lover with his wand at the ready.
She started firing simple jinxes aloud and as Harry grew in confidence, silently. She also increased the strength of her various jinxes. She watched how he moved.
Harry moved quickly casting shield charms, and when he saw a particularly strong jinx push through his shield, he jumped out of the way narrowly avoiding it.
"Brilliant Harry!" She exclaimed, as she ceased firing spells at him. "You do well with defense. Other than your footwork, to prevent you from tripping over your own feet, you don't need much work. Let me see what you have in terms of offensive strategy. Throw everything you have at me."
Harry nodded, taking a breathe, before he began his assault. . With a quick wave, he cast a freezing water charm at Daphne's feet, trapping her legs in ice.
"Hey!" She shouted with a smile, proud of his creativity. "Let's see if you can manage offense and defense at the same time." She instructed as she strengthened her onslaught, adding a few darker jinxes into the mix keeping him on his toes in order for her to have time to cast the counter spell for the ice to release her feet.
One of her cutting curses caught Harry's arm as he was jumping away from her barrage of spells. He winced then threw his wand to his left hand and cast a crude shield.
She saw the blood and stopped firing spells at him and rushed to his side. She waved her wand over the wound. "Anapneo." she said calmly. She watched as the cut on Harry's arm disappeared before their eyes, "Are you alright?" She asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm used to it at this point. So what do I need to work on?" he asked with slight aggravation in his voice.
"Harry, I'm not going to lie to you. Up until this point you've got the weaker end of my arsenal. Daddy had the master duelist train me well. If this had been a real attack your opponent would have taken you out easily. You kept using the same defensive technique when I was casting offensive and defensive spells at you. I saw that and exploited it. If we work on your form and the correct wand movements, that you honestly cannot learn completely correctly from a book, the power and accuracy of your offensive spells will increase immensely. With practice, you will be prepared." She said looking into his eyes, hoping he saw what she saw in him, a boy who just wanted to survive and who could if he practiced.
He stepped away from her and sat on the sleeping bag again, feeling like a failure, "Thanks, Daph. I feel like I will never be good enough no matter how much I practice or read."
"Stop the moping, Harry Potter! This is our first practice session. You will get better, I promise you that. Let's keep going." She commanded, pulling him to his feet. She spent a few minutes showing him the correct stance and wand movements for the fire jinx. Then she then went to the opposite wall and cast a strong shield spell. "Hit me. I want each one to hit stronger and harder than the last. Okay?"
He nodded and began releasing a stream of fire at Daphne which flowed around her shield hitting the wall on either side of her, but fizzling out on the stone.
"Good! Put more power behind the next one!" She shouted.
Harry cast the jinx stronger this time, feeling his confidence grow.
"Great!" She screamed as she began to start having issue keeping the shield in place. He was gaining in strength and confidence. She planted her feet and strengthened her shield charm.
After a half an hour of casting stronger and stronger fire jinxes, Harry stopped casting in exhaustion. Daphne let her shield fall.
She ran to him and jumped in his arms, wrapping her legs around his hips, and kissed him. Pulling back, she exclaimed, "You did so well! You will survive this task."
"I hope so," Harry said cynically. She jumped out his arms and walked to the sleeping bag, holding his hand.
I wasn't sure if you'd need this but, I modified it and figured I'd give it to you just to be safe. You can never have too much protection." She held out her father's signet ring with the family crest. "Daddy gave me his in case you might need it for the task. I can use mine to visit him on weekends but for now, you may use his to come to me at any point you feel necessary. Mine can also bring me to you, should I feel you might be in danger." She finished and showed him how to activate the charm.
He held the silver signet ring before kissing her cheek softly. It felt nice to have someone else that cared for him, "Thank you Daphne."
She smiled at him. "You're welcome Harry. I love you and I told you. I'll do anything I can to keep you safe. Daddy knows how much you mean to me and wanted to help you with this final task."
"For now, I think you will do well to rest. Going into the final task exhausted won't do you any good." she yawned as she finished.
"Will you stay with me?" Harry asked pulling the sleeping bag to the center of the room.
She nodded. "I'd love too."
He grinned and enlarged the sleeping bag and cast a cushioning charm under it. He lay down pulling off his shirt and rolling it up to act as a pillow.
Daphne pulled off her skirt and lay in her shirt and knickers next to Harry. She cast a charm to keep the fire in the grate going all night before she placed her head on his chest. Both fell asleep unsure of what the next day would hold, but knew Harry was more prepared than ever.