Author's Note: Here's part 2! And shocking as it may seem, this has not magically become mine instead of JK Rowling's, much to my dismay.
"Okay, so since we finished up with the Disarming Charm last week, I was hoping we could move on to the Impediment Jinx. It's a great way to slow down an enemy, and if done correctly can even blast an enemy away from you. The incantation is 'impedimenta' and the wand motion is primarily a jab, watch me..." Harry began his DA lesson the following week. He was really proud of how well everyone had done after a couple of weeks with expelliarmus and was anxious to see them move on to slightly harder work. Of course, he was also slightly anxious of the new faces in the room - Daphne, as well as her friends, Tracey Davis, and Blaise Zabini. Not only was he worried that the arrival of several Slytherins could stir up trouble within the DA, but he was also starting to feel some kind of flutters in his stomach every time he so much as thought of Daphne.
Why couldn't he be falling for someone more reasonable? Lavender, Parvati, even Ginny or Hermione would be way easier to fall for you would think, but no, after one brief conversation he had started crushing on the infamous Ice Queen - so nicknamed for her personality when dealing with the boys who fawned over her like a piece of meat. But - while he certainly admired her admittedly gorgeous body - Harry didn't think he was like that. He was really mostly curious about what kind of Slytherin would be so dead-set against Voldemort, and Daphne's declaration on that point had really piqued his intrigue.
"... So before I let you all pair up and practice this for yourselves, does anyone have any questions?" Harry finished.
"Yeah, what are a bunch of Snakes doing in here" Katie Bell demanded. "I thought they were the ones we were learning to defend ourselves from."
At that, a murmur broke out among the DA members, some confused, not having seen the Slytherins in the room, some angry, and - the majority Harry noticed - in apparent agreement with Katie. Harry realized this was going to take a bit of explaining.
"Look everyone, Daphne heard about the DA from one of the earlier members to join - which, incidentally means that we all need to be more careful about mentioning DA around other students - but thankfully, rather than running to Umbridge, she came to me and asked to be a part of this," Harry explained. "So she, Tracey, and Blaise signed the same sign-up sheet all the rest of us did, because they wanted to learn defense, just like the rest of you. Just because they're in Slytherin doesn't make them evil gits like Malfoy."
Harry noticed Daphne relaxing a little as he spoke, and at the end of his defense, she even made eye contact with him and mouthed "Thank you" to him. Harry felt that now-familiar leaping feeling before pulling his focus back to his lesson.
"So, unless there are any questions about the Impediment Jinx, pair up and I'll walk around and try to help everyone to get this right."
Everyone quickly paired up, leaving Blaise and Neville both partnerless. Harry ushered them together, reluctantly, but he assured Neville it would be fine. He resolved to himself to keep a close eye on their pairing, worried for his friend. He almost immediately chastised himself for falling back on the very prejudice he had just told the entire DA to get over. He would have to work on that.
He walked around, offering his usual bits of advice as he watched the general body of work improve. While reluctant to watch Daphne too closely, after working with every other pair in the room he decided he really ought to - after all, they were here to learn from him. He was practically stunned when he saw Daphne hit Tracey with a perfect Impediment Jinx.
"Wow, that was excellent Daphne. No offense, but why have I never noticed you in Defense classes before now? I feel like I would have noticed someone outperforming Hermione."
Daphne rolled her eyes at the mention of Hermione, the supposed first in their class, but limited her response to "I guess you didn't pay any of us Slytherins much attention except to notice how much of a prick Draco was being. But it seems like you've at least started to realize your mistake in that regard, so at least you're making progress."
"Fair enough," Harry replied. "The point was, that was a really excellent jinx." He turned to her friend. "Tracey, you've almost got it down, but you really need to focus on the jabbing part of the wand motion. You're being really aggressive with it, and it needs to be a little bit more understated to work at it's full potential." He demonstrated the correct wand movement, and was pleased to see that she was able to correct it on her next attempt.
"Finite," he lifted the jinx from Daphne. "You both look to have this under control, but practice makes perfect. Besides, you need to be able to do this without thinking, instinctively. Because if you have to think about it when you're facing a Death Eater, or Voldemort himself, you're already dead." As he turned to go help the people who were still struggling with the spell, he realized that while Tracey had flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name, Daphne hardly reacted at all. Harry thought he'd had a crush before, but at that moment, he was certain.
He was falling for Daphne Greengrass.
