"What's wrong with his scar?" Daphne asked her mother, as her mother laid Harry on one of the beds. "What do you mean what's wrong with his scar?" her mother asked in reply. Daphne opened her mouth to answer her mother, but the words wouldn't come out. The only thing she could say was "Nothing. I must've imagined it." Mrs. Greengrass looked at her daughter in worry, but turned her attention back to Harry, who mercifully blacked out from the pain. Daphne could still see steam coming out of Harry's scar, but apparently she was the only one who could see it. Her mother looked at Harry's scar, and saw that it was the same that it always has been, then quickly dismissed that as the reason for his passing out and feeling pain. "Well he's fine for now. Looks like whatever happened to him was only temporary. You can stay here if you'd like to." Mrs. Greengrass told Daphne.
She nodded at her mother, and watched her leave the Manor Infirmary. She turned her attention back to her bed-ridden boyfriend and noticed that he was up and glaring at her. "You stupid, insufferable girl. Did you actually think that I didn't know about your plan? I knew about it this whole time, and now you're going to convince your boyfriend that it'll be in everyone's best interest if he forgets about the ritual. If he doesn't, then I'll make him kill your whole family. Don't forget I'm always listening, even if you don't think I am. Later Ms. Greengrass." Shade told Daphne through Harry's body, before he passed back out onto the bed. "Shade was scared of this ritual, which must mean that it can work. For now, I'll have to lock up the materials somewhere safe that Harry and Shade wouldn't know about." Daphne thought to herself, as she walked back to the library by herself.
When she got to the library, she headed to where she and Harry were standing. She picked up the Vervain off of the floor, along with Merlin's Book of Magic. She placed the Vervain on the page that had the ritual on it, and closed the book. "It's going to be up to me, Ron, Hermione and Sirius to finish this ritual. Without Harry having any knowledge of it. I'm going to have to erase his memory of everything to do with the ritual. It's for the best." Daphne thought to herself. She grabbed the other book Harry found, and headed to her bedroom to hide the items under one of her loose floorboards. It took her awhile to get to her bedroom, because with every step she took, it felt like gravity was pushing down on her. She opened up Merlin's Book of Magic, and went to the page with the ritual on it. She ripped out the page, and placed it in her pocket. "He'll remember about the book, but I can't let him see the ritual anymore. Harry cannot know about it anymore. I'll handle this. Shade has gone too far this time, and I'm going to put an end to him. Permanently." Daphne thought to herself.
She opened one of the many loose floorboards in her room, and placed the materials needed for the ritual. She even placed the book that Harry found in there, and kept Merlin's Book of Magic on her bed. She grabbed her wand off of her dresser, and headed back to the Manor Infirmary with absolute determination. When she arrived at the infirmary, she looked at her boyfriend who was sleeping somewhat peacefully on the hospital bed. She pointed her wand at him with tears going down her cheeks, and muttered "Obliviate" while focusing on erasing all of the memories of the ritual from his mind. When she completed the charm, she wiped the tears off of her face, and sat in the chair next to him. "It is for the best, is what I tell myself, but it doesn't make it any easier." she thought to herself. She brushed Harry's hair out of his eyes, and just watched over her boyfriend.
It was another half an hour before Harry woke up in the infirmary. "Where am I? What happened?" he asked out loud. Daphne gave a weak half-smile to her boyfriend, and told him "You passed out in the library. It was your scar, so I guess it had something to do with Voldemort. You gave me quite a scare Harry." He looked at his blonde, sapphire-blue eyed girlfriend, and gave her a heartfelt hug. "Sorry to worry you Daphne." he apologized to her. She felt that she had started crying, but she didn't try to stop it. The tears came from her guilt of having to leave Harry out of the plans for the ritual, and for really being scared at when Harry collapsed. Harry rubbed her back to console her, and five minutes later, Daphne was all calmed down. "Out of curiosity, do you still have Merlin's Book of Magic?" he asked her. Daphne pulled away from her boyfriend, and nodded at him. "Good, cause I think I found a way to find out if I'm actually related to Merlin." he told her. She looked at him shocked, then they headed to her room.
Meanwhile at the Burrow, Ron and Hermione were having their own personal time together. They had just finished degnoming the garden, and were on Ron's bed in his room. They were in a full-blown snogging session, when Fred and George apparated into his room. "That's it Ron. Give her a good snog." Fred jokingly told his little brother. Ron and Hermione quickly stopped kissing each other, and glared at Fred and George murderously. "What do you two want?" Ron asked them impatiently. "What we want isn't important little brother. We thought we'd give you this letter from Hogwarts before Mum got her hands on it." George told him. He handed the letter to Ron, and he was instantly confused. "Open it up, you insufferable git. We want to know what it says too." Fred told Ron. Ron mumbled something at Fred, and opened the letter. A small pin fell out of the envelope, and Ron could tell that it was the Gryffindor Prefect Badge. He read the letter as quickly as he could, and it read:
Dear Mr. Ronald Bilius Weasley,
enclosed in this envelope is the Gryffindor Prefect Badge. As you are well aware, Mr. Potter was the Gryffindor Male Prefect, but due to his already busy schedule, he has decided to pass the honor onto you. From this moment on, you'll be the Male Gryffindor Prefect, and you'll be doing Prefect Duty with Miss Granger. Hoping you are having a wonderful Christmas holiday so far.
From,
Professor Minerva McGonagall
Head of Gryffindor House
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School
"What does the letter say Ron?" Hermione asked him. He turned it over to make sure that it wasn't one of the twins' pranks, but he couldn't find anything wrong with it. "It seems that I've been made Gryffindor Prefect." Ron replied in answer. "I thought that Harry was the Gryffindor Prefect?" Hermione asked him. "He was, until he requested that I take his place. Something about a busy schedule." Ron told her. "Look. Ikkle Ronniekins has been made Gryffindor Prefect. Mum'll be so proud. Let me go get her." George told Ron. Before he could protest, George apparated out of the room. A few moments later, he apparated back into the room with Mrs. Weasley. "George says you have something to tell me Ron." Mrs. Weasley told him. Ron glared at George, who at the time was holding back his laughter by putting his fist into his mouth, then handed the letter to his mother as if he was conceding defeat.
She grabbed the letter in his hand with a frown on her face thinking it was something bad, but when she finished reading the letter she was literally on the verge of tears. "You don't know how proud this makes me of you." Mrs. Weasley told him. Ron managed a weak smile, while his mother hugged him extra tightly. Ron could see out of the corner of his eyes that both Fred and George were having a severe bout of silent laughter. He even heard Hermione give a quiet chuckle. "As tradition of our family, what would you like me to buy you for becoming a Prefect?" Mrs. Weasley asked Ron as she dabbed the side of her eyes with her hand. "If it isn't too much, I'd like a new broom. A Cleansweep Eleven." Ron told her. Mrs. Weasley smiled at him once again and nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Now is a time to celebrate, so I'm going to cook a fantastic dinner." Mrs. Weasley told them, as she was heading out of the door.
As soon as Fred and George were sure that their mother was way out of earshot, they started laughing as loudly as possible, and even dropped to the floor clutching their sides. "Oh shut up you two. You're just jealous that neither of you became Prefect." Ron told them. When he told them that, they laughed louder if that was even possible. "The day we'll be jealous of you is the day that you can do something we've never done little brother." George told him. Ron felt his face turn bright scarlet, and he sat back on his bed with Hermione. "Anyway, now that we've gotten our laugh of the day, we'll be on our way. Very busy you know?" Fred told them. Hermione was about to lay into the twins about their Skiving Snackboxes, but before she could get a single word out, they apparated from the room. "Do you know any Anti-Apparating Charms Hermione?" Ron asked his girlfriend. "Now only that but I know the Anti-Disapparating Jinx to trap them somewhere at any given time." Hermione answered. "Have I ever told you how brilliant you are?" Ron asked her. She smiled at him, and told him "Countless times." Ron smiled back at her, and leaned in for a kiss. Hermione obliged him and kissed him back, seemingly interested in getting back to their snogging session.
Back at Greengrass Manor, Harry fully recovered from what happened to him in the library. He and Daphne were laying down in Daphne's bed, and just talking to each other. It was well past midnight, but neither of the young lovers were tired in the slightest. "Have I told you about the time we saved Sirius and proved he was innocent in our third year?" Harry asked Daphne. She shook her head at him, and looked up at him as if she wanted to hear the story. "It was the night I found out the truth about Sirius, and how it wasn't him who sold my parents out to Voldemort, but it was Pettigrew. Me, Sirius, Ron, Hermione, an unconscious Professor Snape, and Professor Lupin were coming out of the Shrieking Shack from the Whomping Willow's passage. After we got Ron situated since Sirius bit through his leg, Sirius and I walked away from the others and talked about the future. That's when he told me he wanted me to live with him. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Then, everything went wrong. That night fell under a full moon, and Professor Lupin didn't have his Wolfsbane Potion that night, so we were all in danger. While Sirius tried to get him to remember who he was, Pettigrew tried to turn back into a rat using Lupin's wand during the entire commotion. I quickly disarmed him and casted a Full-Body Bind curse on him so he couldn't escape." Harry told her.
She was listening intently, since the story was starting to become increasingly interesting. "Professor Lupin had turned into a full werewolf and had no idea who we were, so Sirius had no choice but to turn into a dog to fight him off. We watched as they fought with each other, but Professor Lupin had the upper hand. He knocked Sirius out for a little while and started coming for me, Ron and Hermione. He would've killed us too if it wasn't for howling coming from the other direction. So Werewolf Lupin ran after where he heard the howling come from, and I saw Sirius limping towards the Black Lake. I told Hermione to make sure that Pettigrew stayed frozen, and to knock him out if he tried to escape. I chased after Sirius since I knew that he couldn't get far with those injuries, and I found him laying down by the Black Lake. When I got to him, everything started going cold. By the look of fear in Sirius' eyes, I could tell that it was the Dementors. There were hundreds of them, and I felt as frozen as the Black Lake was. I quickly found movement when they started flying towards Sirius. I took out my wand and casted the Patronus Charm, but it wasn't enough to save both of us. The Dementors then started feeding on both of us, until Sirius' soul came out of his body. Before I blacked out, I saw a pure white stage across the lake, and it drove all of the Dementors away. I thought I saw my dad that night, but in the end I realized it was me, since I always am told how much he and I looked alike. I just didn't understand how I could be in two places at once though." he finished the story by telling her that.
"Sound to me like somebody had his hands on a Time-Turner." Daphne told him. "Oh yeah, now I remember. Dumbledore gave Hermione permission to use the Time-Turner when we arrived in the Hospital Wing. It was so we could save Buckbeak, so he wouldn't have to die." he said. Daphne smiled at her boyfriend. "Even when it comes to putting yourself in mortal danger, you're always thinking of other people before thinking of yourself. It's one of your most attractive qualities." she told him. Harry looked down at Daphne with a smile on his face, and a smile in his eyes. "Oh yeah? What are my other attractive qualities?" he asked her playfully. She looked at him and sighed. "Let's see. You're brave, you're loyal, you're determination to defeat Voldemort is higher than everybody else's, and I've got to say that I'm a sucker for the color of your eyes." she told him. He kissed her forehead gently, and hugged her. "Thanks for all of that Daphne." he told her quietly. "No problem." she muttered in reply before drifting off to sleep.
When she did fall asleep, Harry just looked up at the ceiling as if he was determined to stay awake. "I really don't feel like having one of my usual nightmares. I have a feeling using Occlumency is going to be difficult. Is it because I passed out in the library earlier?" he asked himself in thought. He shook those thoughts out of his head, and took off his glasses and laid them on Daphne's bedside table. He focused on emptying his mind, and proceeded to fall asleep and was successful. His wish was fulfilled when he had a regular dream instead of his usual nightmare. He couldn't even say that it was a dream, because it was more like a paradise. He and Daphne were sitting on a porch swing outside their home, but they were way older than they were know. They were watching their children play in the front yard, and to make matters much more happy, it was after he defeated Voldemort and got rid of Shade. Even the scar that he had for most of his life was gone, and with that he let his dreams carry him off.