Beta Love: as always, the incomparable glitterally. I must also thank PaganIanthe for looking over this chapter and offering suggestions.

Author's Note: I asked a Star Wars question on Ch. 18, and I'm afraid it was a bit of a trick question. Harry and Hermione were both right! I loved interacting with all of you that responded. Thank you so much! I think I got everyone the promised preview. If I missed you, let me know, and I'll catch you with a preview of Ch. 20!

And without further ado...back to PHB.

1st Sunday in December

The Great Hall

Daphne watched as the Owl Post swarmed the hall and almost groaned aloud when the now familiar blank envelope dropped onto her plate. I can't do this anymore. I have to talk to Neville.

Meanwhile, at the Gryffindor table, "Neville, is there something going on with Daphne? She's not really talking to me very much anymore." Hermione carefully pulled the wrapper off her breakfast muffin. "Did I do something to her? I mean, I asked, but she just said 'everything's fine' and dashed off."

His coffee cup paused on its' way to his mouth as he considered his answer. "She's been quieter than usual, but she told me there wasn't anything wrong either; I'm getting kind of worried she wants to break up with me. But then, when we're alone" - he shrugged - "everything seems fine. I don't know. She says she wants to stay together."

"Maybe you should talk to her again," Harry put in. "She just might not have been in the mood to talk about anything."

"Are you implying women are moody, Harry?" Hermione's voice carried just a note of reproof.

Recognizing danger, he backpedaled. "Not at all. Of course not. But maybe she's just had a lot going on with classes. Or something." He gratefully drew his friends' attention to the arriving post. "Look! It's the Owl Post!"

Hermione smirked as she picked up the unmarked envelope from a common post owl who turned and flew away. "I'm sure that's what you meant." The smile faded as she read the contents of the mail.

Dear Miss Black,

If you don't want the public to hear about your months living unchaperoned in a tent with Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, you will pay 200 galleons by return portkey on Friday. If you choose to ignore this, rest assured the Prophet will hear all about it. If you are tempted to tell your precious boyfriend or father about this, don't. I will ruin them all. Don't think the time in the tent is damaging enough? I'm ready to tell all about the Horcruxes, too. Do you think the Wizarding public is ready to hear that the 'Boy Who Lived,' the 'Chosen One' was a horcrux? Will they ever trust him again? And if you mention this to them, I will know.

I look forward to your reply and payment on Friday.

"Oi! Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry snapped his fingers beside her ear, jolting her out of her reverie.

She folded the letter neatly and tucked it into her bag. "We need to talk. Let's go." She stopped before she got up, having second thoughts. "Wait. No. We do need to talk Harry, but I think we need to act normal. Let's finish breakfast, then go for a nice walk around the castle."

Fifteen minutes later, they left the Great Hall, hand in hand. "Where do you want to go? The RoR?" Harry asked.

When they arrived, Hermione paced back and forth until a simple door appeared. The room was small with only two chairs angled toward one another. After they settled, she pulled out the note and handed to him. "Tell me what you think."

Harry felt a hot flash of fury go through him as he read the threat. He wanted to incinerate the letter, but instead only crumpled the edge in his tightening grasp. "How could she know this?"

"She? You think it's Trallop too?"

A short nod answered her question. "But I didn't think she got in, certainly not deep enough to know this." He jerked the letter up and waved it, frustrated.

"No, I agree." She paused and continued, voice regretful. "I think it's my fault. I was in the library the day she was fired, and I thought someone was there, but Daphne came up. So I thought it was her. Then, Draco came in and claimed that someone was trying to use Legilimency on him." She shook her head. "I just didn't make the connection. What was I thinking? Godric, I'm so sorry," she ended on a moan.

"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything. This is all her." Harry leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees, letter dangling from one hand. "The real question is what do you want to do about it?"

"I want to tell her to go hang," she snapped back. "But it's not just about me; It's about you and Sirius, and even Kate now."

"Then we'll tell her to go hang."

"What about Sirius? Kate?"

"They'll be fine. We'll warn them." Harry handed the letter back to her. "And I don't think this will end like she wants it to."

"You don't think so?"

"No. Think about it. Except that first piece, they've been printing stuff about us, but it's all been backed up by pictures. She's only got a fantastic-sounding story now. We'll tell Kingsley if we have to, and there's no way he lets the papers get word of the Horcruxes." He paused. "She's going to pay for this, Hermione; she's not going to get away it. And I don't just mean we're not going to pay her. We're going to end this."

Meanwhile

In the Eighths Tower

"Daph, what's going on?"

The blonde blinked at the abrupt question from Neville. "Nothing. Just – nothing."

"No, it's not nothing. You've been acting a bit differently for a couple of weeks, and I think I- no, I need to know what's going on."

"You don't have any rights over me," she answered quietly.

He took a step towards her. "No, I don't have any rights, but I want to. And you're shutting me out. If you want to break up, then please just tell me."

"No, no, I don't want to break up."

"You realize we've had this conversation more than once. And I've just let it go, but I can't do that anymore. I need you to talk to me. I'm not Slytherin, Daphne; I can't read between the lines like you do. If I've done something you wrong, you need to tell me."

"No, no, that's not it!" Daphne laughed, a touch of hysteria in her voice. "It's not you at all. I just don't think I can tell you."

"Will you at least try?"

She glanced around the currently empty room. "I'll try. But not here. We need to be alone and dead certain of it."

"The Room of Requirement, then?"

A few minutes later, Neville paced back and forth in front the apparently empty wall, and a door appeared, but as soon as it did, Harry emerged with Hermione right behind him. At Harry's abrupt stop, Hermione bumped into him. She peeked around his shoulder. "Well, this is awkward."

"No, no, Daphne and I just need a place to talk alone and well…," his voice trailed off.

"Eighths' Tower seems to have ears?" Harry provided drily. At his friend's nod, he waved his hand towards the now empty room. "Go on in. That's what Hermione and I were doing, talking. We'll see you at dinner, yeah? Hermione's headed to the library, and I've got Quidditch practice." He half-turned and held out his hand for her take.

When Neville and Daphne entered, sure enough, there were two chairs, just right for a serious conversation. He waited, if a bit impatiently, for her to collect her thoughts and begin.

"I'm being blackmailed. Whoever it is, they're threatening to go to the press with our relationship. And they said they'd know if I told anyone, but I can't go on doing this."

He sat in stunned silence. Whatever he had been expecting to hear, this wasn't it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"They said that they'd know if I told you or anyone; I've been trying to figure a way out ever since the first note, but whoever it is just keeps on sending them. I wanted to tell you; I did! but I didn't want to drag you into this mess. And I thought about telling Astoria, but she tells our mother everything, and she only keeps her own secrets. As far as she's concerned, you and I are just good friends."

"Tell your parents."

"But – "

"No, Daphne, tell your parents. We've been dating for weeks. Tell them."

"They'll make me break up with you; they want this marriage to Draco!"

"That's not going to happen, and you know it."

"No, I don't know it."

"Yes, you do." Neville leaned forward and took her hands in his much larger ones. "You do know it. You know how much I care about you. And you know Draco's going to marry Luna. You know he will."

"So what if he does? They'll just sign another contract with the Notts or the Zabinis. They'll find someone. They have two daughters to marry off, Neville."

He was shaking his head no. "Daphne, do you really think I'm going to let you marry anyone but me?"

She was torn between joy and anger. "It's not your place to let me do anything, Neville Longbottom!" She pulled her hands from his. "If, if I were your fiancée, then maybe you'd have that kind of say over what I do, but you aren't! You haven't even asked!"

Neville leaned back in his chair, contemplating his next move. She was right; he hadn't asked. He'd just assumed she was on the same page with him. "I'm sorry. That was presumptuous of me. And I'm not going to ask you to marry me right now when we've got a blackmailer to deal with. But Daphne, I do want to marry you; I adore you. Please tell them about me. Tell them we're serious. You can't keep paying this blackmailer."

She blanched. "Tell them? But what if they make me break up with you?"

"They won't. They can't."

"What if they cut me off? Cast me out of the family?"

He leaned forward again, and this time he pulled her out of her seat and into his lap. "Then you can be part of mine."

They sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the closeness. But soon enough, reality intruded. "I don't know how they found out about us; I mean, the eighth years know we're dating, but she was pretty specific; she mentioned us meeting here and what we do." Daphne paused, "I say 'she', I guess 'she' could be a 'he'. But the letter felt like a woman, if that makes sense."

"Has anyone ever used Legilimency on you?"

She shook her head. "Not that – wait." She sat up in his lap. "Draco said that someone was trying to use Legilimency on him the day Trallop was fired. Hermione thought there was someone in the library with her; she even had her wand out when I got there. I didn't think much about it at the time. How could I have been so stupid?" Her voice ended on a distinctly higher pitch.

"You're not stupid."

"I've been concentrating so much on finding a way to pay her off, I haven't even really been thinking about who she is or how she found out."

"But this is good news – that means she doesn't have any way of knowing if you told me."

Daphne got up and started pacing. "Maybe. She might still have someone in the castle that's talking to her. But we know who's not talking to her, right?"

"Harry, Hermione, Draco, definitely. Probably not Blaise or Ginny. Or Luna," Neville answered.

"Right. Do you think she'll try to blackmail Hermione? She can't be that stupid."

"No, she's not stupid, but she's arrogant. Think about it. She knows Harry's strong, and she tried to hack into his mind in front of us. And if she could read Hermione's, she probably didn't realize how much Harry relied Hermione because Hermione doesn't think that way."

"True. And even if she did, she'd probably write it off as Hermione exaggerating things. What happened last year, anyway? We really haven't talked about it."

Neville shrugged. "I don't even know the full story. They were on the run most of the year, and when they got here, they told me that no matter what, that snake needed to die; we didn't exactly have a bunch of time to discuss it. But Harry hasn't given me a play by play of it, you know? I think they just want to move on."

"They're so close. Have you noticed? It's beautiful. I hope Trallop's not doing this to them, too." Daphne sighed. "But she'll tell him if she gets a blackmail demand."

Neville had relaxed back into his chair once again, but sat up straight. "I think she did get one. This morning. She got a plain-looking letter and immediately started making noises about leaving, but hung around for a while. Told Harry they needed to talk. Do you have your latest note? I might recognize it, if it's from the same person."

"It's in my room. It's more of the same. She's asking for more money now, but I'm not even sure I can cover it without selling something, and my allowance doesn't come through until the middle of the month."

Rather than answering, Neville pulled out his wand and conjured his Patronus, whispered to it, and watched it as it flew away.

"What're you doing?"

"Calling Harry and Hermione. She's just revising, and he's on the Quidditch pitch. Gryffindor's team is disciplined enough to go on without him today."

"But…."

"No. I'm willing to bet Trallop is trying to do this to them, too. We can stop her, but we're going to be smart about it. If Hermione can't figure out a way around this, then no one can. But I'd be willing to bet she can. And she's ruthless."

Daphne considered what Neville said. "Hermione doesn't strike me as ruthless, but if you think it's best, I'll go get the letter and be back in few minutes."

He gave a short laugh. "She doesn't strike you as ruthless? Seriously? Don't you remember what happened to Marietta Edgecombe? She's still wearing a sneak brand for betraying Dumbledore's Army. And that's nothing compared to what she did to Rita Skeeter."

"What? What did she - You know what, never mind. I'll go get the letter."

Twenty minutes later, Hermione walked in right behind Daphne, and Harry caught the door as it was closing.

"What's so urgent?" Harry wiped the last of the sweat from his brow after he propped the Firebolt beside the door. He concentrated briefly and a two-seater couch appeared opposite the chair. He sat down after Hermione settled on the right side.

Neville looked expectantly at Daphne. She took a deep breath and plunged in. "I'm being blackmailed. We" – she gestured to Neville – "think it may be Professor Trallop."

Hermione's jaw dropped slightly, but she closed it with a snap. She reached out blindly and clasped Harry's hand. "How long?"

"I got the third one today; I can't do this much longer. I've been thinking about selling some of my jewelry to Pansy."

"Oh, Daphne." Hermione's mind was whirling.

"Was that what you got this morning, then?" Neville prompted.

Hermione gave a short nod. "But it was the first one. She wants two hundred galleons."

"Are you" – Daphne hesitated – "are you going to pay it?"

She shook her head. "We'll worry about me in a minute. Can you tell me what she's holding over your head? I swear I won't tell."

"Well, that's just it. She's threatening to go public with my relationship with Neville and all the things we've done. She knows enough to know my parents would never forgive me."

"Humph." Hermione made a sound of disgust. "Then I suppose you'll need to pay her this week. How much does she want?"

"Two hundred. She's gone up from one hundred."

"Greedy bitch, isn't she?" Harry put in.

"Yeah, and she's only going to get worse," Neville agreed. "I told Daphne to tell her parents about us and bugger the consequences."

A grim smile crossed Hermione's face. "No. I think you should pay her off. But we'll include a special galleon or two."

Daphne's eyes widened at the look on her friend's face. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I know a charm or two that will make her regret what she's done."

"Are you sure you weren't supposed to be in Slytherin?"

A grin ghosted across Harry's face. "No, not 'Mione; I was the one the Hat wanted to put in your House."

"You? But you're so Gryffindor."

"Now I am," he answered cryptically.

"I'm so sorry to ask, but do you have the two hundred? I know it's a lot," Hermione asked her friend, voice gentle.

"I've got it." Neville leaned forward. "I've got about fifty on hand, and I'll get to Gringotts this week for the rest. Is fifty enough for what you have in mind?"

"No, you can't –"

"No, Daphne; you wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for me. I'm going to help you get out of it."

"Best let him do it, Daph," Harry interjected. "I recognize that look; Neville can be pretty stubborn."

A sob escaped the normally calm blonde's throat, and she launched herself at her boyfriend, burying her face in his throat.

"Hey, hey, why are you crying? We've got this in hand, sweet girl," Neville murmured in her ear.

"I can't help it. I haven't been able to let go, and now it's like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders," she sniffled, voice muffled. She sat up slightly and a handkerchief appeared in her hand. She used it wipe away the remains of the tears. "What about you, Hermione? What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about me; she's going to get her letter back."

"But what if she goes to the press with whatever she has?"

"She can go hang. First of all, we" – Hermione gestured to Harry – "haven't done anything that she can prove and what she thinks they'll print, they probably won't."

"But what if they do?" Fear crept into Daphne's voice.

"We're willing to bet she comes back with another demand first. Then, she might go to them, but we really don't think she realizes exactly whom she's messing with." Harry smirked, "She's going to find out, though."

Friday Morning

Hermione & Daphne's Room

Hermione watched with satisfaction as her letter disappeared. Daphne, however, viewed the twin disappearances with a great deal of trepidation.

"What did you do to them?"

"The galleons? Oh, I just charmed the ones Neville gave me earlier in the week to dye the hands of the first person who touches them."

Daphne blanched. "I have to tell my parents, don't I?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

"Neville offered to marry me this weekend. It'd stop the contract, and all my parents could do is disinherit me." She shrugged. "But I don't care about the money."

"Is that what you want?"

"No. I mean, yes; I want to marry him, but ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to have a big wedding with family and friends around us. And a big party afterward. Wouldn't it be amazing? To be married on the summer solstice, surrounded by everyone?"

Hermione smiled. Obviously, Daphne had dreams for her wedding. She'd prefer something more along the lines of what Sirius and Kate's wedding: small and intimate. "What did you tell him?"

"That I'd think about it."

"And?"

The dreamy expression on her face cleared. "I'm going to go talk to him now. I know what I want us to do."

A/N: Thanks for reading, and as always, your kind words are much appreciated.