Disclaimer:

I don't own anything related to the rights of Harry Potter... Or the lefts.

Author's Note:

The third chapter of Becoming Mr. Black.

Publish Date: Feb. 14th, 2014

Update Date: N/A

Chapter Three

Viper

(A.K.A. What's in a Nickname?)

Worried that she had just walked into a trap, Daphne frantically looked around the room for anything that might be out of place or wrong or even just a little bit odd. Several long seconds of searching turned up nothing out of the ordinary, and she almost sighed in relief when she looked around the broom cupboard again. Everything was put exactly where it should be.

Everything.

And panic struck again. In her experience, nothing was this put together without it trying to hide something, and she was not really wanting to find out what.

"There you are," A voice behind her said, causing her to freeze. "I have some questions for you."

Daphne didn't move. She knew Tracey was the one behind her, but that didn't matter right now, she just wanted out of this lying little room and somewhere where she didn't feel like she was being so intently watched.

"Are you listening to me?" Tracey demanded. "You've been off ever since you came back!"

"Tracey," Daphne started, turning toward her friend. She wanted to discuss this elsewhere, somewhere better for a private conversation, but apparently Tracey wasn't having that.

"No!" the brunette yelled, her voice echoing around the small room. "You promised me answers, then you disappeared for the entire Hell Year, not to mention the fact that you've been avoiding everyone all this year!" Tracey huffed and took a deep breath, calming her nerves. "You have had me spying on our housemates for my entire life here at Hogwarts. I followed you into a group that hated me for being born, I lost my chance to get to know my half-brother, I likely gave up my only chance to find real friends other than you, and you're still refusing to tell me why!" Tracey glared heavily at the blonde before snarling out, "I love you like a sister, and you're still keeping secrets from me!"

"I'm still under a number of oaths," Daphne muttered, surprising Tracey immensely. "I can't say much of anything until I'm released from them."

Tracey stared at Daphne in shock. "But you were the one that always told me to never swear an oath and that it would always come back to bite me."

Daphne snorted before blandly saying, "I know," She pointed to herself before adding, "Currently being bitten." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair and said, "My curiosity got the better of me and it just snowballed out of control from there."

Tracey's gaze narrowed dangerously before she growled, "What can you tell me about them?"

"Tracey," Daphne began saying, but seeing the glare from the brunette made her sigh and instead mutter, "What I can tell you isn't much, and the confusion it would cause you would likely bother you more than not knowing anything." Daphne shook her head before asking, "Now, are you sure you want to know?" At Tracey's nod, Daphne sighed tiredly and asked, "Then do you mind if we go somewhere else to talk? This place is really starting to bother me."

"You could always stay here. Might as well get the full story."

Daphne sighed and shook her head, muttering, "I should have known it was you. Where are you this time?"

Tracey snapped her wand into her hand and looked around the room, trying to find the speaker when Daphne replied, causing her to stare at the blonde. "Daphne?" Tracey questioned cautiously. "What's going on?"

Daphne sighed and replied, "Just put your wand away, we're fine." At Tracey's incredulous look, Daphne explained, "It's the person I swore that oath to. I promise, everything will be just fine." She huffed out a breath and muttered, "After I cuff him 'round the head a time or two."

Tracey arched an eyebrow at her but put her wand back in its holster. Shortly after, just as she was going to ask Daphne again what was going on, the entire room shimmered out of existence, leaving what looked to be an empty classroom that was much larger than the broom cupboard illusion and had been converted into rather comfortable living quarters.

And as soon as she spotted the figure sitting in a padded chair by the fireplace, she knew why.

"So this is where you've been hiding out, Potter?" Daphne asked, walking over to the fireplace and the chair across from Harry. "By the way, your illusion is perfect." Seeing Harry begin to grin, she interrupted, "It's too perfect. No broom cupboard is ever going to be that perfect. Nothing was out of place."

At Harry's questioning look, Daphne rolled her eyes at him and continued, "People in that line of work aren't going to care if all the brooms are facing the right way or that the mops didn't drip on the floor because by then they're likely tired, and a tidy broom cupboard is the least of their concerns." She walked past the chair and over to Harry, before patting him on the head as if he were a dog and said mockingly, "But good try, better luck next time!" She then proceeded to cuff him twice before sitting in the chair across from him.

Harry glared playfully at the blonde and said, "Nice to see you too, how have you been?"

Daphne just arched an eyebrow at him while Tracey watched the proceedings with interest, wanting to know how her best friend knew the Gryffindor Golden Boy.

After a long moment, Daphne finally stated, "You've been ignoring me."

Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He nodded and answered the unasked question, "There were some things I needed to do and decisions I still need to make. I'm sorry it took so much of my time and attention."

Daphne looked closely at Harry, finally noticing just how off he looked from normal. "How long?" She asked softly, surprising Tracey, who could hear the concern in the blonde's voice.

Harry tilted his head to the side in confusion and asked, "How long, what?"

Daphne frowned and demanded, "How long has it been since you've slept?" Seeing Harry was about to deny it, she shook her head and continued, "I can tell you're wearing muggle make-up to hide the bags under your eyes, Harry, among other things." She leaned forward and asked again, "Now, how long?"

Tracey snorted and mocked, "The Gryffindor Golden Boy wears muggle make-up?"

The brunette was shocked when Daphne's head snapped around to glare heatedly at her, hissing, "Shut it, Tracey." Daphne's mouth twisted into a cold grin and she continued, "Or shall we get into the things you've done to better your appearance?"

Tracey wisely shut her mouth.

Harry sighed and waved his hand, conjuring another padded chair next to Daphne's. "Have a seat, Davis." With a shrug he added, "More comfortable than standing at least."

Tracey, after shaking off the shock and awe of Harry's seemingly nonchalant use of non-verbal wandless magic, made her way over to the chair and cautiously sat on the edge, asking, "So when are you going to release Daphne from her oaths?"

Harry sighed and nodded, replying, "Right now, actually." He turned to Daphne and took a breath before saying "Daphne Greengrass, I release you from all but the first oath you swore to me."

"From all of them, Potter," Tracey snarled at him.

"Tracey," Daphne said softly, drawing the irate brunette's attention. "I wouldn't release me from the first one either." She shook her head and continued, "It doesn't do anything except keep me from revealing something quite personal, anyway."

Tracey snorted. "Of course the Gryffindor Golden Boy-"

"Tracey!" Daphne snapped in exasperation. "Stop it. You've never been this rude before, why are you being so now?"

"He used you!" Tracey yelled, springing up from her seat. "He used you and forgot about you! He's just as arrogant and self-centered as Malfoy sai-"

CRACK!

Tracey wasn't sure what happened, but suddenly she was dizzy and lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, and the side of her face hurt like hell. She blinked in confusion and lifted her head, expecting to see Harry pissed and standing over her.

Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Daphne cradling her quickly bruising hand and glaring at her from behind the infamous 'Ice-Queen' mask she wore all the time at school. "You hit me," Tracey slurred, as if not really believing it. "You actually hit me."

Tracey had finally stumbled to her feet, swaying slightly as she made her way back to the chair she had previously occupied, still stunned silent. The fact that Daphne had physically struck her rattled her completely. She had never really been one to give in to anger that much, and even less likely to ever physically hit anyone. The fact that she did either meant that Potter had her enthralled somehow, or Daphne really cared about Potter.

She wasn't sure which option was worse.

Harry walked over to Daphne and sighed, saying gently, "Let me see your hand, Daphne."

The blonde held her injured hand out to Harry, never breaking her glaring at Tracey. He gingerly cupped her hand in his before his hands started glowing gently, easing the traces of pain from Daphne's face. Finally the blonde took a deep breath and said stiffly, "I already have my little sister enamoured with that little albino ferret and hanging off his every word like it came from Merlin himself." She shook her head and continued, "I damn sure don't need you doing it as well." She turned to Harry and demanded, "Why did you save him anyway? And you defended his family in the trials. Why?"

Harry looked at her curiously and smiled softly, asking, "Would you still think the same of me if I had just left him to die?" At Daphne's shocked look, he continued, "And I didn't defend his family, I defended his mother. She lied straight to Tommy-Boy's face about me being dead, I owed her that much." He seemed to think for a second before he corrected himself unthinkingly, "Well, still dead at least."

Daphne yanked her hand back from him and stared at him in absolute horror. "What the hell do you mean, still dead?"

Harry's eyes widened before he said quickly, "Nothing, Daphne. I'm fine, see?"

Daphne's horror only deepened when she put the pieces together for herself. "I heard about Voldemort's ultimatum. You did, didn't you?" When he looked away and didn't answer, she finally asked, weakly, "Why? You promised me you would come back."

Harry sighed and looked back at Daphne sadly and said quietly, "I didn't want to do it. All I wanted to do was find you and run and forget the rest of the world and never look back again." His shoulders slumped and he continued, asking, "Do you remember what I told you about how he survived that night?" At Daphne's nod, he concluded, "Well, there was one none of us knew about," and tapped the now nearly completely faded scar on his forehead.

Daphne just shook her head in response, muttering, "No."

"It was the only way to make sure he was gone for good," Harry continued, adding sadly, "I had to, there was no other way, or I would have done that instead, no matter what it was. I never wanted to break my promise to you, Viper."

Daphne smiled weakly at the nickname before asking, "So how did you survive a second one?"

Tracey's wide-eyed stare bounced between the two that had seemed to forget that she was even there. How long had this been going on under her nose? Daphne had never let anyone call her any kind of nickname, not even her, and the last male that had tried found out at wandpoint that it was a horrible idea right before he ended up in the hospital wing with a broken block and tackle. They were still questioning the poor bastard's ability to preform in any capacity more than a year later, including urination. She was also starting to put pieces together, as unlike Daphne, she had been here for Hell Year, and was there for the Battle of Hogwarts, and she quite clearly remembered exactly what the ultimatum had been, and the events after, including Potter's supposed 'death'. She almost opened her mouth to call him a liar, but decided that she probably shouldn't say anything until she knew more about what was going on here, because she was completely and thoroughly confused as all hell about how these two seemed so close.

"Technically, I didn't," Harry shrugged. "He fired off an Avada at me and it killed me." He sighed and continued, "But because I had one in my head, I was offered the choice of continuing on, or coming back." He grinned sheepishly and said, "So I came back."

That was the moment Hermione and Neville burst through the door, wands drawn.

"There you are. I have some questions for you."

"What do you want, Luna?" Hermione asked stiffly, trying not to throttle the blonde. Hermione would never admit to it, but she actually did like the strange girl.

Just not when she was trying to find-slash-save Harry.

"He doesn't need saving, you know," Luna stated dreamily.

Hermione spun quicker than anyone could see and glared at Luna. "The last guy alone in the presence of Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis ended up with a broken pelvis, among other things, from the cursing he received." She shrugged and added, "Not saying that he didn't deserve it, but Greengrass and Davis spent quite a bit of time around Parkinson and Malfoy." She shook her head and turned around, starting to head off towards where the map in her hands indicated Harry was, adding, "It's not something I'm willing to risk."

Luna sighed and said, "Do you really think that Daphne could hurt Harry? Or allow Tracey to?"

Hermione once again froze in her tracks. She sighed and turned to face the blonde again, saying, "What do you know, Luna? You obviously know something, so spill."

Luna smiled dreamily and replied, "I know many things. For instance, did you know the Slumdinger lays its eggs in a person's brain? It tends to make them rather uptight." The quirky blonde tilted her head to the side and asked innocently, "Have you been checked for Slumdinger eggs, Hermione? It's a rather easy procedure."

Hermione sighed in exasperation and replied, "There's no such thing as Slumdingers, Luna."

The sudden serious look on Luna's face surprised Hermione as the blonde asked, "Are you willing to bet your life on that?"

Hermione opened her mouth to say yes, but her mind was faster. According to the laws of probability, Luna was bound to be right about something, sometime. Was she willing to bet that this wasn't that time?

One more look at the serious Luna made her decision.

"And how does one check for Slumdinger eggs?" Hermione sighed, not really believing she was going along with this.

Luna smiled brightly and replied, "It's easy!" With that, she skipped over to Hermione and pulled down on the bushy-haired witch's ear to look closely inside, even going so far as to use a lumos spell.

"All the better to see in your ear with!" Luna laughed when asked about it.

It was several, several long moments for the brunette, being manhandled by the ears by a waif of a girl, but she persevered. Luna finally declared her Slumdinger egg free, with the added statement of:

"It seems you're just naturally that uptight."

Hermione wasn't sure if she should be insulted or not.

Neville was trying his hardest to not break out guffawing at the scene before him. Any time Hermione and Luna interacted, it was always bound to be hilarious for everyone else.

Luna finally said her farewells and skipped off to who-knows-where, leaving the two Gryffindors to rush off to the room Harry and the two Slytherins were in, drawing their wands along the way.

They reached the door moments later, looking at each other and nodding once before rushing through, wands raised and ready for a fight.