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Late-Night Talks And A Potion…

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It was late night and everyone in the castle was asleep, except for Draco. He was sitting in the Slytherin common room, staring at the dying fire as it mildly illuminated the darkened place.

He had a letter in his hand which he had received two weeks ago. It was from his father who had demanded that Draco explained to him why he had listened to Harry and had passed along the complete prophecy to Voldemort. He knew it would come to this. However, he had only done it out of his own choice and Draco knew his father won't understand that.

"I know this is a lot to ask of you, so I will understand if you didn't want to do it," Harry had said after he had asked Draco for his help. He had taken two full days to think on it before finally sending the complete prophecy to Voldemort. He had realized that his father wasn't worried for their family's safety so Draco had decided to take that responsibility upon himself. But with Voldemort in the picture it would be difficult to carry it out. And for that reason, after thinking on it for a long time, Draco had realized that Harry had to defeat the dark wizard.

He didn't know if the Gryffindor had a full-proof plan for it. He had asked Daphne about it and she told him nothing. He didn't push her to tell him though. Just two years ago he wouldn't have imagined listening to Harry like that. The two were like sworn enemies. Now they were something else. While it wasn't some kind of alliance or friendship, they didn't seem to hate each other as much as they did before. Draco didn't know how to process that but he wasn't complaining.

He looked at the fireplace. The fire was dead and the remaining embers crackled quietly. Darkness had once again filled the common room and with the fire no longer burning the place had started to become cold.

Draco stood up and looked at the letter in his hand before throwing it in the fireplace. He stood there until it had burned completely before he turned around and left for his dorm to finally retire for the night.

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"I understand your worry for them," Daphne said, "but do you really think that you can help them with Umbridge being at your throat?" She was mirror-calling Harry from the privacy of her curtained bed. Because they weren't able to practice together this is how they had been talking to each other. Of course the lack of actual, physical meeting was frustrating for them but they couldn't risk it, especially this year because Umbridge was out for Harry and the Slytherins were cockier because of Voldemort's return.

"I don't know," Harry responded. "That's why I thought that maybe you could think of something. I talked to Hermione and her suggestion was that we find a secret place where we can start a students' group to teach everyone some actual defense. The upper years can help junior years."

"But where would you find such a place, away from Umbridge's eyes?" Daphne asked. "It can't be the room of requirement because the seventh floor is a very public area now, especially with the inquisitorial squad's increased patrolling. Even if they don't see the entrance, the gathering of the students on that floor will be enough to raise suspicion."

Harry sighed. He was thinking about using that room but Daphne's words made sense. It seemed he was out of options. "Then the only thing we can do, is wait," he said, "and hope that the twins can get rid of Umbridge as soon as possible because I keep getting this feeling that Voldemort might attack anytime now."

Daphne's expression softened. "Maybe sometimes, waiting is a good thing," she said. She then paused for a moment before continuing. "How far are they with their prank?"

"Fred told me that they'd get it done sometimes near winter," Harry said. "They're planning a great audience too, which means that they are probably gonna prank Umbridge during dinner on the night before we are to leave for winter holidays. Everyone will be there in the great hall so they will have their audience."

"They better have a damn good prank to pull then because the holidays are months away," Daphne said. "That gives them enough time to come up with the grandest of pranks."

"I trust them," Harry said.

There was a minute's pause between the two before Daphne spoke. "So, how are things between you and Granger?" she asked.

"We are getting along just fine but I am still keeping my distance from her," Harry said. "Something tells me that she's still not being completely honest with me. Also, every time Ron's name comes up whenever we are talking, she looks at me as if I am doing something wrong by still being upset with him."

"Hmm," Daphne hummed. "Sounds like, she can't let him go."

"You mean…" he deliberately left his question unfinished as Harry realized what Daphne meant.

"There is no other explanation for it," she said.

"But Ron is exactly the opposite of her!" Harry said. "Besides, I was friends with them for three years. Surely I would've picked something up."

"Well, opposites do attract," Daphne said. "As for why you didn't see it is probably because it all happened last year, when you weren't friends with them. So it's possible that something happened during that time."

"But they have never gotten along," Harry said. "Whenever I wasn't there they would always fight. In fact, if it wasn't for me I don't think Ron and Hermione would even be friends."

"Did you ever think that you and I would end up together?" Daphne's question caught him off-guard. "We didn't even know anything about each other except for our names and which house we belonged to. What I'm trying to say is, when people start talking to each other, they become more open. The times we spent together, helping you with the tournament, it let us know about each other and brought us close. The same probably happened with Weasely and Granger last year. They probably spent an evening together doing assignments and opened up."

Harry scoffed. "Even if Hermione expressed her feelings, Ron is too thick-headed to pick it up. Trust me, I know," he said.

"Then it is just a one-sided affection," Daphne said. "Weasely doesn't know that Granger has feelings for him. And if you still say that it's impossible, then the only other thing that I can think of is guilt."

"You mean she's is feeling bad for Ron?" Harry asked.

"It's possible," Daphne said. "Three years of friendship before you broke it up with them, probably made her feel bad about the whole situation. Maybe she blamed herself for the whole thing? It made her feel guilty for herself and Weasely which ultimately led her to develop feelings for him."

"I told Hermione what I had told you," Harry said. "I am ready to be friends with Ron again but only if he realizes his mistake and apologizes for it. I'm not cold but I do want him to know that it was his mistake and not mine. As for Hermione, she's free to think whatever she wants. That doesn't mean I won't tell her that it's wrong, if she brings it up."

"Well, I won't argue with you on that but I can't say anything for sure about Granger," Daphne said. She then paused and thought about something. "Would it be alright with you if I borrow Dobby for a few days?"

Harry just shrugged his shoulders before nodding. "What do you need his help for?" he asked.

"I won't say until I'm sure of it," Daphne said, "because it's just a hunch right now. Anyways, it's late. We have Umbridge's class first thing in the morning and I don't want to be late. So I'm heading to sleep."

"Alright, then," Harry said smiling tiredly. "Good night, Daphne. I love you."

"Love you too," Daphne said before they cut the call.

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The next few days went by without much hassle. During this time Harry managed to sneak into the secret chamber with Daphne where they spent the whole day together. He also got to see some of the ideas that the twins had come up with for their prank on Umbridge. Some of them actually worried him seeing how horrible of an affect it would have on her. "Wouldn't she expel you guys for this?" he had ended up asking Fred and George.

"It's not that easy to expel final year students," George had said. "That power lies solely with the Education Board and it generally takes them months to take any decisions anyway."

"Which is also why we have chosen the last night before winter holidays to prank Umbridge," Fred added.

"So even if she asks the board to expel you two, you'd already had gone through half of the term," Harry said understanding. The twins nodded together.

"So, as you can see, we are pretty much set with everything," George said. "You don't have to worry about us, Harry. We will take her down and take the entire blame on ourselves, if it comes to that."

"Just…be careful," Harry said. "We don't know what she's capable of."

"Whatever it is, she will never see this prank coming," George said.

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For Daphne, these next few days were somewhat engaging as she had tasked Dobby with a very important mission. She had done it all based on a simple hunch which she desperately hoped was wrong because if it wasn't then this will turn out to be a very serious matter.

The whole thing was related to Hermione and while Daphne didn't know the girl that well she respected her, or rather her intelligence. She knew that if she was in Hermione's place – coming to a completely new world and still dominate her peers academically – she wouldn't be able to do what that girl had done. Hermione knew nothing about magic before coming to Hogwarts and despite that she had scored the top position in her first year and had maintained it, all because of her own efforts. That is why she had Daphne's respect. And it was because of that, and the fact that Harry was willing to give Hermione another chance, that Daphne wanted to make sure that that girl was alright.

So she waited in one of the abandoned classrooms for Dobby while staring at a small cauldron of grey-colored potion which she had concocted over the week using the elf's help. Dobby would bring her the ingredients, some of which he had to steal from Snape's personal collection.

She reached for her pocket, taking out something about the size of her thumb. It was wrapped in a piece of cloth which she then removed to reveal a weird-looking stone with lots of minute holes on its surface. It was grayish-white in color. She looked at it closely before her eyes shifted to the potion which Daphne had prepared. She picked up the small cauldron and transferred the potion from it to a glass container before proceeding to put the stone in it. The potion immediately went from a grey color to complete transparent. The entire grey thing from the potion had been absorbed by the stone which now appeared much darker than before. Using the floating charm Daphne removed the stone from the now clear potion before proceeding to store the potion in a small vial. She then brought it to her eye-level to look at it more closely before the smile of satisfaction came on her face. It wasn't often when Daphne took pride in her potion-making skills but this time she did.

She then turned to face Dobby before handing him the vial. "You know what to do with this," she said.

Dobby nodded before popping away.

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