Paid In Blood - REVISED (Originally by Zaterra02)

by FrostyTheDopeMan

An aged Dark Lord Harry Potter sends his soul and that of his most loyal friend back in time to prevent multiple tragedies. He won't be making the same mistakes this time around, and he definitely won't be forgiving those who wronged him. 4th Year AU. Zaterra02's fanfic, completely rewritten to improve grammar, language, and clarity.

6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Not even a week had passed, and already Daphne would describe herself as being friendly with Potter. No, with Harry. She was so used to calling him Potter that it was still hard to remember to call him by his first name.

Now that he had been fully accepted by the snakes, most Gryffindors took it upon themselves to sneer at Harry everywhere he went. Some of the older dorks even attempted to bully a group of snake firsties, only be found later that day stuck to the walls with no memory of the event whatsoever. The firsties refused to say anything about who helped them, even though the way they all reverently looked at Harry made it painfully obvious.

Daphne found it amusing.

Harry's crusade to crush both the dorks and the duffers was going great. In classes he would perform his work properly and politely, but he also deliberately completed tasks before Granger so he could earn the points she would normally receive. Daphne believed he had somehow sabotaged Granger's potion too, earning her a T on the day's assignment. Oh, how she had cried and found it unfair, and the best part was that Harry had left no evidence. As far as anyone else was concerned, Granger had failed all on her own.

Daphne didn't fully understand where all the hate between Harry and Granger had come from. They had always seemed so close. Everyone thought they would be dating by now, but that was clearly never going to happen. She could understand some animosity, but there was more anger and hate than could be properly explained by what happened with the Gryffindors. Daphne was curious, but she swore to herself she wouldn't pry.

Weasley repeatedly tried to start an altercation with Harry, mostly by relying on his usual method of calling him a traitor or a slimy snake. After the redhead's latest attempt, Harry posed a question to him.

"Remember McGonagall's words first night of our first year, Weasel? What am I saying, of course you don't. She said our house was our family. So let me ask you, who is the greater traitor? The one who refuses to forgive those who betrayed him, or those who turned their backs on family in time of need?"

This, of course, led to Weasley drawing his wand and attempting to curse Harry. He never got the chance because Daphne's silent Disarming Charm got to him first, earning her a nod from Harry and a couple of house points from Professor Snape, who of course saw everything.

Even Longbottom tried to confront Harry, leading to one of the more unusual moments in recent memory. Longbottom approached Harry in the corridors after Transfiguration class and stutteringly asked to speak with him. Harry's reply? He glared at the near-squib boy as his massive snake Zael took form behind him.

"Get lost, you damned traitor, before I feed you to my snake," he growled, his voice dripping with loathing. Longbottom turned and ran like the wind, and rumour had it that he had even wet himself.

The Slytherins found the whole thing amusing, but Daphne saw something else in Harry's actions – real, unbridled hate. Longbottom had done nothing to justify the summoning of Zael. Harry hadn't done that against any of the other dorks, and several of them had been far worse to him than Longbottom. What had the squib done to deserve such hate from Harry? She was unbelievably curious, but again, she didn't pry.

After that incident, McGonagall took twenty points from Slytherin for threatening a student, ten for casting spells in the corridors, and twenty for summoning a dangerous beast. Harry was livid, but he banished Zael and left before he could really blow up, or at least that's how it looked.

Daphne had also seen Weaselette staring at Harry in the corridors several times. Harry wouldn't even look at her, but whenever he noticed her, he would get a look of disgust on his face.

Even the duffers were getting in on the act. When one of them attempted to cast a spell at Harry, the spell rebounded and hit the caster, making the 'puff grow donkey ears and start braying. Then there was dinner on Harry's third day as a snake, when a flash suddenly enveloped the entire Hufflepuff table and all of the duffers' clothes disappeared. It was complete pandemonium. The 'puffs were humiliated, of course, and everyone knew it had been Harry even though there was no evidence. He wasn't docked points nor given detention because nothing could be found to identify him as the culprit, not even his wand. From that moment on, only a handful of duffers bent on revenge even looked at Harry.

Daphne also found herself spending extra time with Harry. Not only during study sessions with their year mates, but also in her tutoring sessions, for which Harry was almost always available. Daphne could honestly say she was enjoying learning with Harry's help. He was actually turning out to be a really great teacher, and she, Theo, Tracey, Blaise, and Millie had all become rather friendly with Harry over the past week. Even Pansy seemed more pleasant towards him. Malfoy kept his distance and largely avoided contact with the others, aside from Crabbe and Goyle.

And who could forget the Howler from the Weasley matriarch? Her shrill voice echoed throughout the Great Hall, accusing Harry Potter of being a traitor to the Light and demanding he go back to Gryffindor. Harry continued eating his breakfast and sat the Howler down, ignoring both it and the snickering from the dorks and the duffers. Before the Howler could end its rant, Harry pointed his wand at it and burned it to ash.

"It's way too early in the morning to listen to banshees," he stated, causing some snickering from the Slytherin table and disappointed looks from the other houses. The same thing repeated itself three days in a row, until the deputy headmistress actually contacted the Weasley matriarch and forced her to stop sending the damn Howlers, which Harry always ignored anyway.

One might have expected Lucius Malfoy to come barging into the Great Hall and demand retribution for what happened to his son, but it so happened that Lucius had been found injured in a dead end in Knockturn Alley. No one knew exactly what happened, but he had been in a coma ever since. If Narcissa Malfoy knew what had happened to Draco that night in the common room, she didn't say anything. Malfoy did his best to stay away from Potter; it was as if he had finally understood that he wasn't the prince of the snakes.

Curiously, an armourer in Knockturn Alley had reported the theft of several items, among them two complete sets of dragonhide armour. The possible theory favoured by the Prophet was that since illustrious citizen Lucius Malfoy had been found in the vicinity, he had obviously attempted to stop the burglary and was heavily injured by the perpetrators.

The Daily Prophet wrote several pieces about Harry and his re-sorting, accusing him of turning dark and evil, citing his behaviour, the strange rash of accidents that had befallen Hogwarts, and his re-sorting to Slytherin. Harry's reply was printed in the front page of the Daily Prophet and every other publication in Magical Britain.

An Open Letter to Magical Britain:

Greetings,

My name is Harry James Potter, known among you as "The Boy-Who-Lived." I've come to reply to the accusations made against my person.

Ever since my name came out of the Goblet of Fire, naming me the fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament, I have been the target of a vilification campaign that has seemingly infected the entire country, spearheaded by none other than the Daily Prophet and Ms. Rita Skeeter.

First of all, concerning my selection as a champion. As I have said several times over, I did not place my name in the Goblet of Fire, nor did I ask anyone to do it for me. I even swore by my life and magic that I did not do it, nor did I ask or coerce anyone else to do it for me. Ask for a memory from your children. I made the oath the day after the first task.

As you may know, I was exiled from the house of Gryffindor after being falsely accused of being a cheat. Considering my previous statement, supported by my oath, it's clear that Gryffindor house exiled me without reason, so I refused to be a part of that disgraced house anymore. I asked for a re-sorting, and the Sorting Hat decided that more than ever I was well suited to Slytherin House, the very place it wanted to sort me in my first year but didn't because, unfortunately, I was a young and impressionable lad, who had been told that only evil wizards come from Slytherin, given the examples of Lord You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters (to our readers, the original letter had the name of You-Know-Who written, which we have taken out to protect our readers' sensitivities).

HOWEVER, as I have come to learn over the past few years, Slytherin is the house for the cunning and ambitious, not the dark and evil. Sure, You-Know-Who did indeed come from the house of the snakes, as did several of his Death Eaters, but so did many of our most ancient and noble families, as well as other noteworthy individuals. Did you know that our own Hogwarts matron Madam Pomfrey was a Slytherin?

Is the Prophet implying that these noble people are evil, just because they were sorted into Slytherin? They certainly imply this about me, that my sorting into the house of the snakes is nothing more than a sign of my own dark and evil ways. Why, I ask?

Concerning the accidents that have befallen Hogwarts students, I can only say that my wand has been tested using Priori Incantato, and there is absolutely no evidence connecting me to the incidents. Headmaster Dumbledore, Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, and Professor Snape have all been present and can act as witnesses.

I would appreciate it if this character bashing campaign would stop, lest we need to involve the law.

Harry Potter

The message had been short, direct, and had done its job. The following day, the Prophet published a front-page article acknowledging Harry's letter and apologizing to him and to all Slytherin students and alumni for Ms. Skeeter's words.

It was rather amusing for Daphne, especially when she saw the smug look on Madam Pomfrey's face. She had never known the matron had been a snake.

Of course, all that was nothing compared with what happened on the fourth night after Harry's Sorting into Slytherin.

~Flashback~

The students entered the Great Hall for dinner, only to find the tables empty of food.

"Are we early?" asked Theo. Daphne, however, noticed signs of distress on the faces of some of the teachers.

"Something's happening," Harry remarked, as more students filed into the Great Hall and became confused when they saw the empty tables. Whispers quickly turned into loud conversations as the time passed and no food appeared.

"Where's the food? It's not here!" shouted the Weasel himself as he was entering the hall.

"As if we haven't noticed it," complained Blaise, who's own stomach was growling.

"Stop complaining, you're not the only one who's hungry," Millie responded, and Blaise actually shut up.

Daphne sighed as she watched the situation continue to deteriorate. She looked at Harry, who was ignoring the commotion and reading a book on pureblood etiquette.

"You could drop the book for a moment, you know?" Daphne said in exasperation.

"As amusing as it is to hear Zabini being chewed out by Bulstrode, I really do want to finish this section," he replied. "Besides, you practically demanded I read this book and start acting like someone of my standing."

He raised his eyes from the book and looked at Daphne. "Or would you rather have me looking at those beautiful sapphires of yours?" he said with a wry grin, leaving Daphne speechless while the rest of the Slytherins turned to look at him.

"What the hell?" asked Theo in disbelief.

"I told you. Potter is a shameless flirt whenever he's with Daph," Tracey replied with a grin.

"Is someone who spent the afternoon kissing by the lake jealous?" Harry asked pointedly, looking at Tracey and making her blush.

"NO!" she said. "I just find it funny because she hasn't even cursed you once."

"Funny, the Stinging Hex on my left butt cheek says otherwise," Harry replied, noticing the smug look on Daphne's face.

"Wait, what?" asked Millie, suddenly very interested.

"He deserved it," Daphne replied. "He called me Princess.''

"I was trying to motivate you," replied Harry, ignoring the others' laughter. "But since it was silent and without wand movements, I'll let it slide."

That shut them all up.

"You're learning from him?" Blaise asked Daphne.

"Yes, Potter has his uses. Who knew he was actually a good teacher?" she said with a smug expression, tossing her hair back over her shoulder.

"Wait, I think something weird is happening!" said Potter suddenly, and everyone froze. "Greengrass just complimented me. Someone make sure the world isn't ending!"

They all broke out laughing, and Daphne cast a silent spell at Harry that turned his hair Slytherin green. Harry was happy to see that behind her cold exterior, Daphne was actually having fun. Their year mates laughed even harder.

"Well, nice spell...but why green?" he asked with a grin.

"It suits you," she replied, and much to her chagrin he didn't bother cancelling the charm.

"Attention students, there seems to be a problem with our food," Dumbledore announced, gathering everyone's attention. "We expect to have the matter resolved momentarily, so please, we ask you for your patience."

"OK, that's it..." said Harry, closing his book. "Dobby?"

The unusual house-elf appeared next to Harry and they started speaking quietly between themselves, until Harry's laughter suddenly rang out across the entire Great Hall. The rest of the hall fell silent as they all turned to see Harry doubled over in laughter. He was being propped up by the house-elf, who was trying hard not to laugh, though he failed, and both he and his master fell to the floor in laughter.

"Mr. Potter!" shouted Dumbledore. "What is the meaning of this?"

Of course, Harry only laughed harder.

"Tell... Tell...oh Merlin, that's hilarious!" Harry said again, trying to regain his composure while the bewildered occupants of the Great Hall just stared at him in shock.

"What the hell, Potter?" shrieked Parkinson, as Harry wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and attempted to control himself by taking deep breaths.

"Okay... I can do this..." he said, and his new friends knew he was trying really hard. "I'd like to say that I support the house-elves' struggle. GO HOUSE-ELVES!" and he cracked up again.

Again, everyone started to look at him as if he had two or more heads.

"Call him, please. I can't..." he laughed again, and then sat down on the bench.

"Timbler!" called Dobby, and a very old house-elf appeared before Dobby, who was still laughing along with his master.

"Timbler, please, can you...explain what is happening?" asked Harry politely, to which the elf nodded.

"We's house-elves are on strike, we are, until the evil one – she who must never be named, the bane of house-elves – stops her attempts to free and kill us, poor, hardworking Hogwarts house-elves."

"What?" someone asked, not really understanding.

"Can you explain, Timbler?" asked Dumbledore, looking at the house-elf and the still chuckling Harry Potter.

"The evil one keeps dropping clothes for us poor house-elves. One of us touched the clothes and was freed from their bond to Hogwarts. Poor Tiby is dying because of it. And the evil one keeps doing it to kill more of us poor, hardworking house-elves," Timbler explained. The anger and desperation in the little elf's voice was enough to shake Harry out of his amusement.

"We even stopped cleaning the red tower, but she leaves things everywhere else too. We's lives in fear every day."

The onlookers just sat there gaping, looking from the old elf back to Dobby, who stood with his hand on his elder's shoulder. He wasn't laughing any more, and neither was Potter. In fact, they were both getting angry, if their scowls were any indication.

"Oi, Granger, how does it feel knowing that you are killing good and hardworking house-elves because of your stupidity?" he asked, glaring at the Gryffindor. "Did you even research the elves? Did you even consider the full consequences of your actions?"

"I... I didn't..." she attempted, her face beet red.

"No, you didn't, you stupid bint!" interrupted Harry. "The house-elves refuse to work because they are afraid of you! You are almost a master for them, as are all of us. You have power over them and what do you do? You act as the typical m-word that gives a bad name to all muggleborns. And you muggleborns wonder why you are looked down upon? It's because of people like HER! There are rules in this world, rules that even I admit I was unaware of until recently. Rules that explain why my muggleborn mother was respected by even the most bigoted purebloods, because she attempted to be a part of our world instead of trying to change it and make a damn magical copy of the muggle world, destroying centuries of traditions. Try to understand this world and its people before assuming you know what's best for everyone else."

"The house-elves refused to clean your tower because they were afraid to find more clothes, but that wasn't enough, was it? You left more clothes all around the castle, and now the poor house-elves are afraid of even leaving the kitchen – all because of you and your damn SPEW! They were so desperate that they refused to cook for us in order to draw attention to their plight before you kill them all!"

Harry pointed his finger accusingly at Granger as his magic flared around him.

Several students and even a few of the teachers were impressed by Harry's insight, and knowingly or not, Harry had just declared himself a neutral in the political game that ruled the magical world. Some of the muggleborns actually took his words to heart and vowed to try harder to learn about their world.

Everyone angrily turned to glare at Granger, who was crying at the table. Wands started to be drawn, so Dumbledore and McGonagall opted to rescue Granger and usher her out of the Great Hall, leaving a very angry student population behind. Timbler vanished, confident that his plea had been heard and eager to tell the good news to his brethren. Harry sat down again on the bench.

"Damn, the bint really is stupid," he said. "And the house-elves, sneaky bastards, they got us really good."

The Slytherins found it all very amusing and joined in the laughter, as did the Durmstrang students sitting near them. The only students that didn't find some amusement in the situation were the Gryffindors, who felt they had been humiliated enough by Granger.

"M-word?" asked Theo, raising an eyebrow to Harry.

"No one docked points, did they?" Harry replied matter-of-factly. Interestingly, there seemed to be more points in the Slytherin hourglass than there were before dinner started.

"You still acted like a damn Gryffindor," Daphne mentioned disapprovingly.

"Really?" he asked, turning to her. "I defended tradition. I even went to the point of stating that the muggleborns should learn our ways in order to be accepted. We don't need to talk about my power, do we? My ambition? And please, Greengrass, I'm not as transparent as I let on. I know how to be cunning, and even though my track record shows otherwise, I prefer to stay in one piece. I can be quite resourceful, and I am pretty determined, as you could tell by my speech. I may not be the standard Slytherin raised in a pureblood house, but I do have our traits."

"I am tainted with a bit of Gryffindor, though," he added as an afterthought.

The Slytherins listened to Potter's reasoning on how he had the traits of their house, and none could find any fault in his logic. Their contemplative mood was snapped as Tracey's stomach growled loudly, and Theo's and Blaise's echoed hers shortly thereafter.

"Damn, that was funny, but I'm hungry," complained Blaise.

"Well, if there is no dinner for us here, I think I'll just go back to our common room," Harry said with a knowing smirk. "As amusing as this is, I think we may as well forget about food for today."

He winked to his friends and stood up to leave. The rest of the fourth years looked to each other, and with a shrug, they all stood up to go with him. Then, the other three houses witnessed something truly remarkable, as almost every Slytherin followed Potter out of the Great Hall as if he was their leader.

The truth was that the other Slytherins saw the looks the fourth years gave each other and knew something was up. It didn't seem like they were going to eat anytime soon, so they decided to take their chances and follow the fourth years.

Harry was still chuckling to himself when they reached the common room. Harry opened the entrance with a hiss, and the others filed into the room only to be dazzled as soon as they got through the door.

"Well, boys and girls, party is on me," Harry announced, pulling a butterbeer from a crate of ice. The common room had been rearranged, with a large table in the middle with what seemed to be a massive chunk of meat in the centre, waiting to be sliced. The other Slytherins stood there gaping, as Harry turned back to them with a wry grin on his face.

"Everyone likes dragon, right?"

The party was fully embraced by the hungry Slytherins. Harry would have preferred to have the party by the lake, but he knew that would have likely caused trouble. As the party went on, he found himself in a corner of the common room talking to Alistair, when Daphne approached him - Harry still wearing the green hair she had gifted him earlier.

"You planned all this from the beginning, didn't you?" she asked accusingly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Greengrass," he said dryly.

Alistair looked at the green haired young man and saw he was chuckling, and truth of the matter dawned on him.

"It's not like I knew what was happening thanks to Dobby. It's not like I told Dobby to convince the house-elves that doing something drastic would end their problem with Granger. That would mean that Dobby would have known about the strike in advance. I totally didn't anticipate it and prepare all this food using what we had left from the dragon I killed, just to feed my house, just because I'm a nice guy."

Alistair laughed and clapped Harry on the back, then left them to go socialise. The full story of what happened rapidly spread through the common room, and Harry was soon receiving some looks of admiration from his housemates. In one night, he had proven he embodied all of Slytherin's traits: Traditionalism, Resourcefulness, Cunning, Ambition, Leadership, Self-Preservation, Determination, Cleverness, Fraternity, and Power.

"I wasn't supposed to snap like that, though," he whispered so that only Daphne could hear.

She just shook her head and looked at him curiously. He'd only been a Slytherin for a few days, and it seemed like Harry's position was already cemented in the house.

"So, what do you think, Greengrass?" he asked, and Daphne smirked at him.

"I think my name is Daphne. Use it, Potter."

"Only if you call me Harry."

"Deal."

Professor Snape entered the common room to find the party in full swing and stayed for a piece of dragon roast, but only because he was hungry. After being filled in on everything that had happened, he actually looked torn for a moment before mumbling something under his breath and leaving soon after. Had anyone checked the points log, they would have found, "Harry Potter, fifty points to Slytherin for providing for his house," right after, "Harry Potter, twenty points to Slytherin for defending traditional values and making a point against the blatant stupidity of muggleborns." After giving seventy points to Potter in the same night, Severus Snape desperately needed a strong drink.

~End of Flashback~

Everything was back to normal the following day, except that Granger was receiving nasty looks from most of the school, and even some of the guests. She was also given a detention where she had to write a report for the headmaster on house-elves, their history, and their role in the magical world as a form of informative punishment.

She might have been able to handle it if that were all, but unfortunately for her, the story reached the outside and had even been published in the paper, thanks to a concerned student who wished to remain anonymous. Granger was flooded with hate mail, some of which was booby trapped, much to the amusement of the anonymous student in question. The student who decided to keep his hair green for a day, just to entertain himself with the exasperation of a certain blue-eyed blonde beauty, who deep down found his actions just as amusing as he did.

In fact, to say that Daphne Greengrass was amused by Harry Potter would be an understatement. Ever since he had been sorted into Slytherin, there had been an almost continuous source of entertainment in Hogwarts. She was learning things she wouldn't learn anywhere else, and she could feel herself becoming a more powerful witch. The fact that she welcomed Harry's blatant flirting surprised even her, but not in a bad way. She actually found him to be a really nice guy and wondered if there might be something more between them.

She recognised that the person he showed to his housemates was quite different from the cold and vindictive mask he presented to the rest of the student body. Of course, Daphne would soon find out that there was even more to Harry Potter than she could imagine.

~BREAK~

Harry opened the heavily warded stone container and checked over its contents. Ravenclaw's diadem was inside, along with an old grey sock. Both items were Horcruxes, the sock being the piece of soul once attached to his scar. One of the first things Harry and Dobby did after coming back to the past was perform the extraction ritual, which was actually quite easy for someone who knew what to do. He found it a fitting insult to reattach the soul piece to one of Dobby's old socks. He wasn't sure if Voldemort would feel it if he destroyed the Horcruxes, so he decided to simply keep them safe until the time was right.

He walked back to the desk and looked at the letter Hedwig had finally brought to him the day before.

Dear Prongslet,

What the hell do you mean you haven't received any of my letters? Do you even know how worried I have been? Even poor old Moony has attempted to get to you, but for some reason the owls can't find you and always bring the letters back.

According to what you said in your previous letters, I can assume that it's because you spend more time in the Chamber of Secrets than other parts of the castle... Anyway, I am confident that this pretty owl of yours will be able to find you. For this reason, I'm sending all my previous letters with her.

The Daily Prophet has been our only source of news about you, and I must say, WELL DONE! According to the paper, your performance in the task was nothing short of amazing, although it was dangerous as hell. What exactly were you thinking? That was also the most irresponsible and foolish thing I have ever seen, and I did a few... And what do you mean, you had to reveal your true self?

Sorry, I'm just trying to be supportive and responsible here... I know I have failed you, Harry, but I intend to make it up to you from now on.

I'm with Remus and we're both fine. Please Harry, we should meet soon and talk about this face to face, preferably next Hogsmeade weekend. Remus agrees with this, and we should have some contacts to get you everything you might need.

I must say, I'm shocked (and so is Moony) that you were sorted in Slytherin. James is probably rolling in his grave, but hey, I know I was a bit of an idiot while I was a kid, but I am sane enough (Moony laughed here) to realise that Slytherin doesn't mean evil. Hell, my cousin Andromeda was in Slytherin, and she is an angel. The rest of the family though... Moving on... We support you either way, just make sure you are safe.

I have to say that I found it outrageous that the cute witch who helped you save me last summer turned her back on you, and I hope your Magical Oath brought her and that whole damn school down a peg.

I expect to hear more about this Veela bird soon.

Don't forget, send us a letter with your next Hogsmeade weekend date so we can get to you. I suggest the Shrieking Shack.

Be sure you are safe and make sure to tell us if you need anything.

Your handsome and roguish Uncle Padfoot, and your not so handsome Uncle-With-A-Furry-Problem Moony.

Harry grinned. His uncles were on his side. Good.

"Dobby," he called.

"Harry?" the elf replied, popping next to him.

"It's time. Can you get us to Grimmauld Place?

"I can."

"Very well. Get your armour and get ready to leave," Harry told him, then proceeded to dress in his dragonhide. "Any idea when our basilisk armour will be ready?"

"The armourer said that they should be ready either next week or the following," replied Dobby, earning an appreciative nod from Harry. Both dressed themselves in a full set of dragonhide, Harry donning a black, hooded traveling cloak overtop. Dobby sheathed several knives along his belt, and Harry holstered his wand on his arm and a silver dagger at his side.

"Ready. Take us to Grimmauld Place," ordered Harry.

"Do you think your dogfather and the wolf will be there?" asked the elf, making Harry hesitate.

"Crap, I hadn't even considered it. I thought Sirius would be with Remus."

"I can go there first and check the house. If they are there, I can meet with Kreacher and talk to him. If not, I can just come back and pop you with me," Dobby suggested, but Harry shook his head.

"Take me with you. I'll stay outside, disillusioned, and keep a perimeter while you check the house. My magic may still be keyed to the wards, so I should have no problems getting in."

"I presume that meeting them today is out of the question?" asked Dobby.

"Too early, and it would raise too many questions," Harry replied, and Dobby nodded in agreement.

Harry put his hand on Dobby's shoulder, and they shortly appeared in an alley near the square outside of Grimmauld Place. Dobby felt the wards and could sense that he was still keyed into them, so he silently popped into the house while Harry disillusioned himself and walked to the square to check the street. Several uneventful minutes later, Dobby reappeared next to him.

"I spoke to Kreacher and he's willing to listen to you. He says to enter through the front door," reported Dobby. Harry nodded and walked to the front stairs of Number Twelve. As he expected, the door opened with a tap of his wand. Harry stepped into the entry hall and was greeted both by Kreacher and the screeching portrait of Walburga Black.

"WHAT IS THIS? FILTH INVADING THE HOUSE OF MY NOBLE ANCESTORS? THIEVES, MUDBLOODS..."

She continued to spew her filth until Harry waved his wand, effectively silencing her by creating a ward around her frame.

Kreacher just stood there, his eyes growing wide as he recognised something about the newcomer.

"You's... Kreacher feels Black family magic in you's. How? Why?"

"The answer is long and painful, Kreacher. All I will tell you is that I know your master Regulus's secret, and I can help you to destroy the locket and bring peace to you and your master's memory."

Kreacher's eyes grew even wider. Had Harry been paying attention to Walburga's portrait, he would have seen that she had stopped her silent shouting and was looking curiously at Harry.

"Why should Kreacher trust you?" asked the old elf, sounding almost hopeful.

"Kreacher, you said yourself that you can feel the Black family magic in me. I can give you an oath that I shall destroy the locket, or even better, I can have you destroy it when time comes. I am an enemy of the Dark Lord and I want to bring him down, just as your master Regulus wanted. He died attempting to destroy the locket, Kreacher. Don't you think we owe it to him?"

Kreacher nodded, tears pooling in his eyes.

"If you's swear to me that you will destroy the locket for Master Regulus, Kreacher will give it to you's."

Harry smiled, bringing his wand up.

"I, Harry James Potter, godson to Sirius Orion Black, swear upon my life and magic that I shall either destroy or provide means to destroy the locket that the house-elf Kreacher possesses for safekeeping, which was given to him by his master Regulus Black with orders to destroy it. So mote it be."

A flash of light surged from Harry, and Kreacher's eyes widened again.

"You's be Harry Potter, godson to filthy blood traitor Master Sirius?"

"I am, Kreacher. Will you trust me now?" asked Harry, ignoring the portrait's attempts to scream even more.

"When will you's destroy it?" Kreacher asked with a sense of anticipation.

"The Dark Lord created several of these foul items. I plan on destroying all of them together, right before attacking Voldemort himself," Harry responded. Kreacher nodded and snapped his fingers, causing the golden locket of Salazar Slytherin to appear in his hands.

"Can't you's do it now?" Kreacher asked, and Harry shook his head.

"No. I don't know if the Dark Lord will sense its destruction, and I don't want him to get suspicious."

The elf contemplated Harry's words.

"Kreacher agrees. Can Kreacher witness it when the time comes?" he asked again.

"Yes, Kreacher, I shall send my friend Dobby to collect you when I'm ready," Harry agreed, gesturing towards Dobby, who had remained silent the entire time.

"Young Dobby elf is lucky," said Kreacher, looking in awe to the younger elf. "You's haves the strongest bond."

"My master offered me his friendship, Kreacher, not just a normal bond. I was truly blessed by magic, and if I may, you can trust in my master's words."

Kreacher nodded and handed the locket over to Harry.

"Kreacher, I believe that your master Sirius Black will come to this house soon. Could you please not tell him anything about me being here or about Regulus and the locket? When it's all done we can tell him, but not now. Can you do this?"

"Kreacher agrees," the old elf said, and Harry turned to Mrs. Black, who was purple with rage.

"Lady Black, before I leave, I want you to know that everything you just heard was true," said Harry, pointing his wand at the painting. The move alarmed Kreacher, but Dobby prevented him from interfering. "Unfortunately, I can't let you remember anything that happened here today. Did you know that paintings can be Obliviated? OBLIVIATE!"

Once he got back to the Chamber, Harry placed the locket inside the container with the sock and the diadem. Only Nagini, the cup, and the ring remained. His chosen method to destroy the Horcruxes was fairly simple. He planned to quickly dip the items in basilisk venom and let the Horcrux be destroyed, hopefully leaving the items semi-intact.

Harry sat down in one of the chairs, thinking about the irony of it all. Had it been any elf other than Kreacher, he would have simply entered the house and killed the elf before claiming the locket. However, Harry Potter had a soft spot for Kreacher, even if they had a bad start in the original timeline. Kreacher had been himself instrumental in helping him with managing the affairs of House Black after the war. That was the only reason Harry had spared the old elf - gratitude, or so he liked to think.

While Harry was thinking, Dobby brought him some tea.

"It was far easier than expected," said Dobby, and Harry nodded his agreement.

"We can get the ring tomorrow evening," said Harry, still somewhat lost in thought. "The bloody snake has to be the second to last for obvious reasons, and I'm not very confident about the cup."

"Couldn't you make an agreement with the goblins?" asked Dobby, and Harry shook his head.

"I doubt it. I had a meeting with Silverteeth a couple weeks before we came back, and he pretty much admitted that goblins don't care about what the clients keep in their vaults, as long as it isn't a danger to the Goblin Nation. I think we can count out goblin support."

"Then what is your plan? I don't think that assaulting the bank again is a good idea, even with the help of an ambitious goblin…" the elf surmised, earning a chuckle from Harry.

"It did work last time, didn't it?" Harry grinned. "But no, I think I have a better plan this time around. All we need is to ensure Bellatrix Lestrange's cooperation."

"How?" asked Dobby, knowing full well that his master already had an ingenious plan in mind.

"Well, we start by breaking her out of Azkaban. But that's a plan for the new year."

~BREAK~

By the end of the second week of December, Daphne was already fed up. She was tired of being teased by her dormmates, the older girls in the house, and even her bloody sister. She was done with constantly being asked if she was dating Potter, and if so, then for how long? When she would deny it, some of the girls even asked her to put in a good word for them, which was almost as irritating.

How hard could it be to understand that they were just...allies?

That didn't seem quite right, though. It felt too empty. The fact of the matter was that she liked spending time with Harry. He was smart, powerful, and surprisingly vicious, but he could also be rather amusing, and he had been nothing but kind and supportive towards her. She supposed calling him a friend would be more accurate, but whatever they were felt different than her friendships with Tracey, Millie, or even Blaise. It was all very confusing. In any case, just because she enjoyed his company and thought he was interesting didn't mean she was involved with him.

Her sister was the worst. Unlike the other girls, Astoria hadn't bothered asking for details about Harry and Daphne's friendship/business arrangement that everyone seemed to confuse with dating. No, ever the bold one, Astoria had simply come up to her out of the blue and asked, "How long will it take for you two to get into a broom cupboard?"

These were the moments that made her almost hate Harry Potter, but then he would go and do something amazing. How did he so easily make her forget her anger towards him?

One night, Harry decided to introduce her to the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor. The room was able to create practically anything you wanted and take any shape desired. When she asked him how he had found it, his reply was, naturally, "Salazar Slytherin's journals."

"One day I'll want to study those journals," she said in exasperation. It seemed like that was his answer to everything, which had become a source of frustration for her.

So, how did he reply?

"Fine, I'll take you to the Chamber of Secrets tomorrow night."

Daphne didn't think she would ever be able to figure him out. She prided herself on being able to read people and predict their behaviour, but none of her preconceived notions seemed to apply to Harry. He was like a puzzle that needed to be unravelled.

True to his word, he brought her to the Chamber the following evening. She had been excited, even if discovering that the entrance was in the second-floor girls' toilet was a bit of a let-down. She was quite impressed, however, by the magic used to gain access to the actual chamber. Harry used Parseltongue to open up the entrance behind the sink, and again to summon stairs and lights for them. On their way down, he entertained her with the story of how he originally found the Chamber, including how Lockhart had caused the tunnel to collapse, forcing him to carry on alone.

As they made their way through the tunnels, Daphne started to get an ominous feeling. By the time they finally reached the main door, she felt like her heart was about to beat out of her chest. Harry opened the large, circular steel door with a hiss, and she soon found herself standing in a massive cave lined with lifelike snake statues. At the far end of the Chamber was an enormous stone statue of a man's face, but nothing prepared her for what she saw poised in front of it - the skeleton of a sixty-foot basilisk, posed as if it was rearing up to strike at them.

Daphne's legs weakened at the sight of the skeleton, and had it not been for Harry grabbing hold of her, she would have fallen to the ground right then and there.

"You... You killed that?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yeah..." he whispered, taking a moment to enjoy the feeling of having her in his arms and the smell of her perfume.

"How?"

Her eyes never left the skeleton, as she was afraid she might shed tears if she looked at him.

"I stabbed it through the mouth with Gryffindor's sword. One of its fangs got me though; I only survived with the help of Fawkes's phoenix tears."

"WHAT?" she shouted, breaking out of his grip and turning around to face him with a look of incredulity on her face. "Are you telling me that you, at twelve years old, stabbed that through its mouth? And were pierced by a fang, and yet somehow survived because of phoenix tears?"

"I can show you the memory, if you'd like," Harry offered.

"Sure…" she replied, still not over the shock.

Harry led her to what appeared to be a solid wall. This time she was ready for the Parseltongue, this being Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, after all. The wall opened to reveal another large chamber, this one with a living area, a laboratory, and a library all sharing the space.

"Welcome to my private quarters. This is where I've been staying since Halloween."

"This was Salazar Slytherin's private chambers, wasn't it?" Daphne asked, as she walked around the room in a state of wonder, trying to take in everything she was seeing.

"Ten points to Slytherin," Harry joked, walking with her to the library section. It was Slytherin's private collection, or at least part of it, including several of his own personal journals. She made sure it was safe by making Harry pick up the one she wanted first to confirm that nothing would happen if she touched it. She opened up the journal, only to be puzzled by what she saw written inside.

"Can you pick another one?" she asked, pointing to the one she wanted.

He handed it to her, but the second journal seemed to be more of the same.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"What is this?" she asked, flipping through the pages and seeing nothing but squiggly lines.

"Considering I can read it and you can't, I'm going to wager that it's either the written form of Parseltongue, or there's a charm that disguises the words so that only a Parselmouth can read it. Seeing as how snakes don't need to write, I'll go with the second option." he said, a subtle smirk on his face.

"You bastard," she told him, closing the journal with a disappointed look in her face. "I was actually excited, you know?"

"I know," he replied seriously. "You wanted to see the journals. I never promised you'd be able to read them, though. I can offer to translate them for you, but that could take several years."

Daphne sighed.

"Fine... You said had a memory to show me?"

She had taken on a detached expression, clearly disappointed she wasn't going to get what she came for. He nodded and took her to the living area and showed her to a Pensieve that stood on the table. Harry used his wand to pull a silvery memory from his temple and dropped it into the basin.

"I included the memory of everything that happened from the time we entered the toilet until the end. Are you ready?"

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

"There's something I need to do up here, so I'd rather not," he replied. "Pay close attention to the memory, and I promise I'll answer all your questions when you're done, alright?"

"Fine," she sighed, and then placed her head in the bowl.

Harry chuckled to himself. She really did have much to learn about him. Harry went to one of the shelves and picked out particular a tome, one which he had carefully enchanted after he had returned to this time. He picked up the first ten journals from Salazar, in chronological order, and performed the spells that would copy the journals into the enchanted tome, translated into English.

She was definitely going to be surprised.

Some time later, Daphne exited the Pensieve pale and shivering. Harry was sitting in a chair, reading one of the journals.

"You... He...you..."

With a sigh, Harry closed the book and got up to walk towards her. He noticed her red eyes and the lingering horror she was obviously still feeling, and he realised he probably shouldn't have let her view the memory by herself. He moved to embrace her, and she let him.

"He's gone now, Daphne," he said. She was still trembling.

"How? How was it possible? The diary? Voldemort?"

"I don't know what kind of magic that was," he lied, "but it's gone now."

She looked at him with a scowl and said, "I hope you'll no longer behave like a stupid Gryffindor."

"Of course not, now I'm a cunning Slytherin," he said with a grin.

"I mean it," she said in a low voice, not finding any humour in the situation.

"I try, but I do still have my Gryffindor moments," he conceded, knowing it was true.

She left his embrace, slightly embarrassed that she allowed herself into that position, even if she had to admit that it felt nice.

"Daphne?" he asked, and she looked at him again. He was smiling and waved for her to come with him. He picked up a heavy book and handed it to her. She opened the front cover and gasped at what she saw.

"But...but you said..." she started.

Looking down at the first page, The Diary of Salazar Slytherin, Volume One was scrawled across the top.

"With magic, there is always a way. That tome will translate every book from Parseltongue into English, as long as you perform the charms properly. You have ten journals there, have fun and then I can get you more."

"Thank you," she whispered, tears of happiness pooling in her eyes. "It's a lovely gift, but what do you want in return?" she asked, her Slytherin side taking charge.

"You!" his mind cried out, but instead he just wiped her tears for her and gave her another hug.

"I'll tell you at the Yule Ball, but I promise you that I'll never force you to do anything you don't want to do," he whispered. In truth, he wanted nothing more than to kiss her right there, but he knew he still had a lot to do if he wanted her to fall in love with him, so he decided to wait.

"That's fine, then," she whispered, relaxing into his arms. What was it that he did to her? She really needed to get a hold of herself. They've known each other for barely two weeks, for Merlin's sake. She had a reputation to uphold.

~BREAK~

Contrary to popular belief, it was not unusual to find a Slytherin walking alone through the corridors of the school. Daphne herself was fond of taking solitary walks along the lake in the evenings - another one of those things that contributed to her Ice Queen reputation. She didn't even mind that people considered her a cold-hearted bitch anyway. Why should she care what other people think?

Of course, that had been before. These days she often found herself smirking without even realizing it, sometimes even full-on smiling. What happened to her emotional control?

This line of thinking led Daphne to another long walk by the lake, stopping every now and then to throw a couple of stones into the water. After exhausting every other possibility in her mind, she finally had to admit that it was all because of Potter…Harry. Damn it.

She lingered by the shore, silently gazing out over the water with her arms crossed. She had no idea what to do. She could no longer deny it - she liked him almost as much as she liked Tracey or Millie. Those two were her best friends, which would make Harry at least a close friend. Sometimes he would look at her in a way that made her think he was interested in her, but other times he treated her like nothing more than a friend. She wasn't really sure what to think, or even which of those she would prefer.

Harry Potter was an enigma. Daphne sighed and shook her head, deciding she might as well walk back to the common room and finish her Charms homework.

"It's not like it's all bad," she thought to herself. She had noticed that since becoming closer with Harry, the number of lustful gazes sent her way had decreased dramatically. She had to admit, she definitely preferred Harry's playful flirting to having other boys leer at her like she was some sort of prize to be won.

Her improved magical prowess was another benefit of her newfound closeness to Harry. The more she learned from him the more powerful she felt, and her spell repertoire had increased dramatically. Being Harry Potter's ally for all his tournament-related research had its privileges too, since Harry had full access to both the Hogwarts Restricted Section and Slytherin's personal library.

She entered through the castle doors and turned toward the dungeons, only to be intercepted by the new Gryffindor golden trio - Granger, Weasley, and Weaselette. Oh joy, just what she needed.

"Look what the Kneazle dragged in," the Weasel taunted, levelling his wand at Daphne.

"What do you want?" asked Daphne, her signature icy glare returning to her face. Her tone caused the trio to hesitate for half a moment, but they quickly recovered.

"You don't scare us, bitch!" shouted Weaselette, her face red with anger. "We want you to release Harry from whatever spell or potion you have him under."

"What?" Daphne thought to herself. "How deluded are they?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Daphne again.

"Oh, please, don't even try it," Granger responded with her usual bossy attitude. "We've noticed he's always hanging around you. You're obviously using him to improve your grades. There is no way he'd become a Slytherin of his own free will."

Daphne glared at Granger.

"Really, oh smartest witch?" she sneered. "Tell me, how exactly am I controlling him? He was able to resist Moody's Imperio, so how could I possibly control him?"

"Love potion," Weaselette retorted.

"That's ridiculous," Daphne replied, before being cut off by Granger again.

"Is it? I've seen the looks he gives you, and I've noticed he keeps you around more than anyone else. What else could it be?"

"You really think we'd fall for that?" spat the piggish Weasley boy. "You think we'd believe that Harry would just turn his back on us? That he'd ever fancy a slimy snake like you?"

"Not these idiots too," Daphne groaned to herself.

"What exactly was your plan?" asked Granger with a smug look. "Turn him over to your master?"

"My master?"

"I bow to no one, Granger. I'd have care with what you say."

Weasley scoffed.

"Right, as if we didn't know better. All you slimy snakes are Death Eaters in training. I bet this was your plan all along. You used dark magic to put his name in the cup, bewitched him turn his back on us, and forced him to join your house, all so you could bask in his glory as champion and then deliver him to You-Know-Who."

"What?!" Daphne squawked, nearly losing her composure. "You-Know-Who is dead, Weasley," she snapped.

"Oh please, do you really think we believe that?" Granger scoffed. "We were with Harry when he faced You-Know-Who in our first year. Harry has always known he would come back one day, and so does the headmaster."

"WHAT?"

Daphne couldn't even begin to process Granger's declaration; it was completely unbelievable.

"Now, Greengrass, we are all sensible people here. Just give us the antidote or the counter spell so we can free Harry from your influence, so he can come back to Gryffindor and forget about this whole nightmare."

"I am not controlling him," Daphne replied, seething. These three idiots were really getting on her nerves.

Granger just glared at her for a moment, then sighed.

"Fine, be that way. Ginny?"

The Weaselette slowly raised her wand, a twisted grin forming on her face as if she was getting some sort of sick pleasure out of this. However, before Weaselette could even verbalise a spell, Daphne stepped to the side and drew her own wand. The youngest Weasley didn't even have time to react before Daphne's silent Stunner hit her in the chest. The blonde immediately turned and sent both Weasley and Granger flying against the wall with nothing but a wave of her wand, Daphne using a silent Banishing Charm just like Harry had taught her in class several weeks before. She stunned them both just for good measure.

Daphne realised her heart was racing and took a few calming breaths. "Did that really just happen?" she thought to herself.

Before she could even gather herself, she heard the sound of slow clapping coming from behind her. She turned around to see an amused Harry Potter leaning against a stone pillar, where he had apparently been observing the confrontation.

"Well done," he said, still clapping. Daphne holstered her wand again and shot him an angry look.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked as she walked towards him.

"Long enough."

"And you didn't think to help me?"

He simply grinned at her, which only served to irritate her further.

"I thought about it, but I realised I didn't need to. You're more than a match for those three."

She just stood there looking at him as his words settled in her mind.

"Does he believe in my ability that much?"

"Now, how about I escort you to the common room?" he offered, but instead she turned and walked away from him.

"And give people more reasons to pester me about our non-existent relationship?" she asked, turning back to him with a raised eyebrow. "I think not."

"You do realise I was on my way to the common room too," Harry teased as he caught up to her, leaving the three dorks abandoned on the floor.

Daphne groaned.

"Why don't you just go to the Chamber?" she asked without looking at him.

"Why? Tired of me already?" he asked cheekily, but she wasn't in the mood for his games.

"Stop that!" she hissed angrily.

His expression quickly turned serious. Once it appeared he had nothing more to say, she turned her back on him again and continued walking away. She had only taken a few steps before she suddenly stopped, remembering what Granger had said.

"Our first year... Was everything Granger said true?" she asked, turning back to him.

"It was," Harry replied. He knew what she was about to ask, so he raised a finger and said, "Not today. Ask me again tomorrow."

Daphne nodded and turned to leave once more. Her curiosity could wait. For now, she just wanted to get back to her dorm. She even forgot about the homework.

~BREAK~

Daphne was in the Room of Requirement, sitting quietly in a replica of one of the chairs from the Slytherin common room and attempting to keep her emotions in check. Harry sat across from her in an identical chair with a small table between them, complete with a tea set. He had just told her about the events of their first year, when he faced Voldemort and Quirrell for the Philosopher's Stone. Daphne would normally find such a tale hard to believe, but Harry hadn't lied to her so far. When he offered to let her view the memory she declined, instead she just sat there trying to absorb everything she had just heard.

"So, you faced him in our first year, and in our second you faced a sort of memory of him? And beat him on both occasions."

"Correct."

"Anything else I should know? Maybe Sirius Black is innocent and was never interested in killing you at all?" she asked sarcastically. She saw a sudden gleam in Harry's eye as a slow smile formed on his face. She snorted and shook her head in disbelief

"I don't believe it…" was all she could say.

"Sirius is actually my godfather, and he didn't betray my parents. They made Peter Pettigrew their secret keeper instead, and he went straight to Voldemort. That night, nobody could find Peter and Sirius knew something was wrong. He went to Godric's Hollow to check on us, but he was too late. He got there just in time to find my parents' bodies and see Hagrid getting ready to take me to Dumbledore. He admits he should have taken care of me then, but Hagrid insisted on following Dumbledore's orders, so Sirius decided to hunt for the rat instead."

"Rat?" asked Daphne, unsure if it was a metaphor or not.

"Pettigrew is a rat Animagus. When Sirius caught up to him, Pettigrew shouted that Sirius had betrayed my parents, then cast the spells that caused the explosions and killed the muggles. The Aurors showed up and took Sirius in. I think he was pretty out of it at the time, and he was sent to Azkaban without a trial."

"But...why?" asked Daphne, and Harry just shrugged.

"Don't know. But I can tell you where the rat was hiding for the past several years."

She couldn't contain her curiosity and waved at him to continue.

"He had been living as the Weasleys' pet rat for more than a decade. He even shared a dorm with me at Hogwarts for almost three years."

Daphne's jaw dropped wide open.

"It's true, we even briefly captured him at the end of our third year. That's how we learned that Sirius was innocent. Unfortunately, he managed to change back into a rat and escaped."

She groaned.

"That's...that's just..."

"A crazy story, but unfortunately all too real," he finished for her. "I don't know why these things always seem to happen to me, but they've helped me realise that I can't rely on anyone else. I need to be good enough to handle the worst this world has to offer on my own, whether it's this stupid tournament or the Dark Tosser himself."

"After everything you've told me I have to agree," she said, "but then why is it you've never demonstrated any extraordinary ability in classes until now? For our first three years together, you've come across as mediocre, slightly above average at best."

"Just between you and me, I really did try hard in our first year, but the beaver and the weasel were always around me. One is a lazy slob and the other is insufferable if she's not the best in every class. I thought things would easier on me if I just blended into the background. I didn't want to be in the spotlight."

"Good job with that," she snorted.

"I already explained it to everyone," he said, ignoring her. "I studied a lot, but I didn't show off in class or try hard on the exams. It was the same in our second year. Things did change after the incident in the Chamber, though. I attempted to learn as much as I could from it in the few weeks of school we had left, and even took some books home with me to study over the summer. Last year, I visited the Chamber regularly to study and practice magic, either on my own or with Dobby's help, but I kept it secret from everyone else. This year I've spent almost all of my free time there, reading, studying, and practicing. In a weird way, being banished from Gryffindor actually helped me. Being isolated gave me so much time to focus on my magic that I've improved more than I ever thought possible."

It wasn't a lie, either. As unbelievable as it may sound, Harry had actually done everything he had just described to Daphne. If he hadn't, he may not have survived the other challenges put in front of him.

"I'm impressed. I truly am," she acknowledged.

"I realised I needed to get better and really prepare myself. If I'm going to attract trouble, I want to at least be able to deal with it on my own. With the tools I have at my disposal, I'd be a fool if I didn't use them," he continued.

"True," Daphne replied, looking at her newest housemate with respect.

"There's still something strange about you, though," she thought to herself.

"You know, Professor Moody approached me today," she said, attempting to change the subject.

Harry flinched.

"Really? What did he want?" he asked, attempting to conceal the anger in his voice.

"If you even lay a finger on her, Crouch, I'll kill you."

"First, he wanted to compliment me on my performance in class. When I told him I was studying with you, he asked me how you were and if I thought you'd like to give a DADA class."

Harry groaned, as Daphne knew he would.

"I told him that you were a great teacher and that it would be a good experience for everyone," she continued with a mischievous grin.

"Sometimes I really hate you," he said, shaking his head while she continued to smirk at him.

"Oh, don't be like that," she replied with a mock pout, knowing he was kidding. "Then, he asked me how you were doing with your egg. When I told him you hadn't solved it yet, he told me to think with water."

"Huh?" replied intelligently.

"I found it strange as well, but what I really can't figure out is why he's trying to help you. I mean, I understand Karkaroff aiding Krum, Maxime aiding Delacour, and Sprout aiding Diggory, but why Moody?" she wondered, not noticing the proud look on Harry's face.

"Maybe he placed a bet like Bagman?" he suggested, which made her scoff.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'd be more likely to believe he's doing it to draw out whoever put your name in the cup by making you look good," Daphne said.

"Think with water, then?" Harry asked, tapping his chin.

"Those were his words," replied Daphne. "What do you think?"

"Well, all I can think to do with the egg and water is fill it up and see if the screech turns into something else," replied Harry, supressing a grin.

"Or submerge it completely?" Daphne wondered aloud, her eyes widening slightly. Harry could tell she was getting excited about their potential breakthrough.

"Dobby, bring me the golden egg," called Harry, and Dobby popped into the room with it.

"And a big receptacle to put it in," she said, only for the room to create a large bathtub.

"I won't even ask what you were picturing," joked Harry, making Daphne blush. "But please, carry on."

"Shut up," she said, glaring at Harry and trying to ignore his and Dobby's laughing.

Harry submerged the egg and opened it while placing his head underwater. As soon as his head broke the surface, he could hear the familiar song coming from the egg:

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour — the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

It seemed that nothing had changed, which was good. However, that also meant they would take Daphne as his hostage for the task, which he definitely had a problem with. He came up out of the water to see Daphne looking at him expectantly.

"So?" she asked impatiently.

"Ten points to Slytherin," he grinned, before reciting the song to her.

"What do you think that means?" she asked, frowning as she pondered the egg's riddle.

"The last part is obvious; we have an hour to retrieve whatever they take from us, which shouldn't be a problem. What concerns me is that I don't know what I would sorely miss, but I do know who I would sorely miss," Harry stated, giving Daphne a meaningful look.

"You'd better," she replied, smiling to herself. She was a little flustered by the idea that she was the one Harry would miss the most, but she had to admit it also have her a happy feeling. She found that she wasn't too worried about being taken hostage for Harry's task. She trusted him to keep her safe, especially after learning more about everything he'd done and what he was really capable of.

"Let's assume that they're all idiots and really take people who the champions would sorely miss. Let's also assume they don't give you a choice in the matter and place you somewhere where I have to find you in under an hour..." Harry began, looking at her expectantly. As usual, she didn't disappoint.

"Water...do you think it has something to do with the lake?" she suggested. She may have faith in Harry's abilities, but she couldn't help but feel a little nervous about that prospect.

"Under the lake, in February?" he said, his expression changing to one of concern. "Daph, promise me one thing," he continued, walking towards her as she looked back at him inquisitively. "If they give you a chance, get out of there. Don't volunteer for this and don't let them take you. I'd rather be forced to save anyone else if it means you'll be safe."

A small smile played at the corner of her mouth while she tried to control her blush. It was moments like this where he really made her heart race.

"Oh, you're too sweet," she replied teasingly. "I'll think about it."

"Now who's acting like a Gryffindor?" he asked, earning himself a slap on the arm.

"Any ideas on how to find the mistress?" asked Dobby, who had been standing off to the side, all but forgotten. Daphne and Harry's cheeks both flushed as they silently cursed the grinning elf.

"How about we go to dinner now and continue this discussion later?" Daphne suggested, running her hand through her hair in an attempt to dismiss her nervousness.

"Let's go, then. Dobby, be a pal and take the egg back to the Chamber, will you?"

Dobby nodded and turned towards Daphne. "Mistress, do you require anything?"

Dobby had taken to calling Daphne "Mistress" over the past few weeks, mostly to make her blush and goad Harry into making a move. His friend/master was an intelligent man, but at times he could be really dense, especially with all things related to Daphne Potter née Greengrass.

Daphne had grown used to her new moniker and barely even noticed it anymore. If she were to be honest, she actually liked it when Dobby called her that – it made her feel special.

"I'm almost finished with the journals," she said, once more trying to change the subject. "I'll need you to copy more of them for me soon."

"Already?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Most of the early sections are Salazar depicting his childhood. I skipped over those parts," she explained, and Harry nodded.

"Me too. We can set you up later then, maybe even tomorrow if we have time," Harry said.

"Or you can just teach me the spells and I can go there with Dobby tomorrow and do it myself. That way I can add the next set without needing to you to be there," she replied, crossing her arms.

"Are you that tired of me already?" he asked, pouting.

"Pouting doesn't look good on you, Potter," she said, turning her back to him and pretending to be irritated, a small smile playing at her lips. After being flummoxed by his bold flirting on more than one occasion, it was nice to finally get some payback. "You're the one who has a private meeting in Hogsmeade tomorrow, not me. It's not my fault if you aren't able to make time for me."

That was true, he had agreed to meet up with Sirius and Remus the following day. He wasn't sure if she should know who he was meeting yet, so he had simply told her that he had a private appointment and wouldn't be available during the afternoon.

"Fine, I don't want the Ice Queen mad at me," he joked, dodging her Stunner at the last moment. She was definitely getting faster with her silent casting.

"Next time I won't miss," she said, leaving the room with a smirk and a flip of her hair.

"You've got to love that woman," he thought to himself as he moved to follow her out the door.

Harry and Daphne entered the Great Hall together. The atmosphere in the hall was more raucous than usual, being not only a Friday but also the also last day of the term. Having the Yule Ball on Christmas Day meant that almost everyone was staying at Hogwarts over the holidays, apart from the younger years who either didn't want to go to the ball or couldn't find anyone older to invite them. With only a week and a half until the event, those who hadn't found a date yet were now starting to panic, while the rest were putting the finishing touches on their robes or making plans to go shopping for accessories in Hogsmeade.

Harry's group of fourth year Slytherins were in the latter category, having all managed to secure dates. Harry had asked Daphne to the ball days before it was even announced, and Theo of course had asked his girlfriend immediately after hearing about it. Without a doubt though, the biggest surprise had been Blaise, who had asked his date just two days after the announcement.

~Flashback~

"Come on, Zabini, you can do this," mumbled Blaise in front of the mirror, listening to his own reflection's early-morning pep talk. "Just go up to her and ask her. It's not a big deal. The worst thing that can happen is she'll say no."

"Or she can say she already has a date," said a voice from behind him, making Blaise jump. He had been so fixated on hyping himself up that he didn't even notice that anyone was in the room with him. He turned to see both Theo and Harry standing there, looking at him with amused and somewhat perplexed expressions.

"What are you doing?" Theo asked, noticing how nervous Blaise was. "What happened to the confident, self-assured Blaise Zabini?"

"Shut up, Theo," he mumbled, turning back to the mirror. "Don't you guys have anything better to do?"

"Well, I don't want to go back to sleep like Malfoy, and someone's monopolizing the mirror so I can't check myself out," replied Harry with a grin. "Is this about that one girl?"

"Potter, I'm warning you - just don't go there," Blaise said with a scowl.

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere," replied Harry, raising his arms in a gesture of peace. "Although, if you wanted to solve your problem you could just grow a pair and ask her."

"I'm not some Gryffindork that likes to Charge Ahead, like you're all so fond of saying," replied Zabini, realizing his mistake when he saw Harry's scowl. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean," Harry replied bluntly. "The thing is, sometimes there's no other choice but to throw caution to the wind, so just go ask her already and be done with it. If I know you, you've already made sure that she doesn't have a date yet, so get out there ask her. I'm getting tired of seeing you moping around and trying to pluck up the courage only to give up at the last moment."

"I agree, it's kind of depressing, Blaise. We've always seen you as this suave guy, and this moping around like an idiot is unbecoming of you."

"We don't all have the luck of already dating someone," grumbled Blaise. "I'm the only one who has to go up to a girl and ask her out of the blue."

"I'm not dating anyone, and I asked Daph weeks ago," Harry replied with a raised eyebrow.

Theo chuckled. "Harry, whether you two admit it or not, as far as the rest of the school's concerned you are dating. We all know it's only a matter of time before you make it official."

Blaise nodded along as Theo spoke, before adding his own thoughts.

"Besides, it's not like she'd tell you no anyway. You're the only guy she's friendly with."

"Fine, but this isn't about me, this is about you asking your girl to the ball," Harry responded, walking up to Blaise with an evil grin. "You can do this the easy way or the hard way, which would you prefer?"

Blaise actually gulped.

"Because I can always cast an Imperio on you and order you to ask her."

Blaise and Theo stared at Harry open-mouthed as if they were imitating fish. "Are you insane?" they both shouted at the same time.

"No, it was a joke," sighed Harry. "Lighten up, will you? Now, would you say this girl of yours is pretty? Intelligent? Interesting?"

Blaise nodded yes to all of the questions, which seemed to please Harry.

"It's not Tracey, is it?" asked Nott with a scowl, his ire quickly changing to embarrassment once he saw the incredulous looks his dormmates were giving him.

"No, it's not Tracey," replied Blaise, rolling his eyes. "Why in Merlin's name would you think I'd want to ask your girlfriend to the ball?" he added, before turning to Harry. "And it's not Daphne either."

"We're just friends…" replied Harry, even though he absolutely hated the notion.

"Yeah, right..." replied Blaise, again rolling his eyes.

"Quick question for you. If your girl's really all that, what makes you think other guys won't go after her?" Harry asked, looking Blaise in the eye. "What if while you're in here waffling in front of the mirror, some other guy just goes up and snags her from you? Do you really think such an awesome girl will wait around for you to find your balls and ask her? Of course not."

Blaise looked back and forth between the two other boys, obviously unsettled by the point Harry was making.

"Tell me, do you want her?"

Blaise nodded.

"Do you want to kiss her? Feel your lips on hers this very moment, or perhaps her whole body later on?"

Both purebloods turned to Harry, wide eyed at the implication.

"What?" asked Blaise.

"Do. You. Want. Her?" Harry emphasised. "Do you want her to be yours and nobody else's?"

"Yes..."

"Then are you going to stand there and let some other lousy git jump in and take your girl from you without a fight?" asked Harry again.

"No," Blaise said. His voice was more confident this time, but he remained unmoved and kept staring at the ground, seemingly no closer to taking action.

"I think you're just a coward."

Blaise angrily looked up at Harry. "You take that back!" he hissed, his eyes finally showing a spark of determination.

"Then prove me wrong," Harry challenged right back, slowly approaching him with a dangerous gleam in his eye. "If she's that worth it, prove me wrong."

Blaise actually grunted and pushed Harry out of the way, leaving the dorm.

"What the hell was that all about?" asked Theo, slightly confused.

"Motivational speech. We might want to hurry up, I want to find out who he's going to ask," Harry said, quickly following after Blaise.

"Are you kidding, I'm not missing this," agreed Theo, chuckling as he followed Harry out the door.

Harry grinned broadly as he hustled down the stairs.

"And I didn't even have to use a Compulsion Charm," he thought to himself.

They arrived at the common room to find Blaise already down on one knee, offering a red rose to Millie. He had obviously just asked her to the ball. The common room was completely silent, a handful of curious onlookers awaiting her reply.

"Yes, I will," she said with a bashful smile. Theo's jaw dropped in disbelief, while Harry wore a satisfied look as he fondly reminisced about the Blaise and Millie Zabini he had known from his previous life.

As soon as Millie said yes, Blaise's expression transformed into a shit-eating grin that didn't disappear for an entire day. Not only had he finally asked Millie to the ball, but he was also going to escort her to Hogsmeade that weekend.

Once the boys got back to their dorm, all he could say was, "I like big girls." Harry just grinned and nodded his head appreciatively. Millie was neither ugly nor fat, but she was taller and broader than most of the other girls, which made her self-conscious.

Theo chuckled at Blaise's explanation. Malfoy sent him a look of disgust but refrained from commenting. Of course, no one really cared what Malfoy thought anyway. When asked who he was taking to the ball, Malfoy informed them that he wouldn't be attending because of his family responsibilities. His father was still in a coma, so he needed to help his mother at home. Malfoy being absent made them wonder who Pansy's date would be, or if she would even go.

~End of Flashback~

Harry and Daphne sat down together with the fourth years at the Slytherin table and were immediately set upon by Tracey and Millie.

"No ruffled clothes, no swollen lips, no dishevelled hair... Merlin, you two are so frustrating!" complained Tracey.

"Here we go..." sighed Daphne, while Harry grinned.

"Ironing Charm, Healing Charm, Combing Charm," replied Harry roguishly, as Daphne just shook her head.

"And the idiot gives them even more reasons," Daphne sighed.

Tracey looked at Harry, surprised by his response. "Hmm, I'll have to remember those," she acknowledged, making Blaise and Millie laugh. "Anyway, come on guys, can't you kiss just once before Yule?"

"Why?" asked Daphne, glaring at the girl who was one of her best friends.

"No reason…but come on, it's obvious you two would be so great together," answered Tracey.

"I see, so this has nothing to do with the betting pool being run by Amelia Yaxley?" asked Daphne, peering intently at her friend and looking for any sign of deception.

"Daphne, how can you think I would bet on something like that?" Tracey asked indignantly. She sounded so sincere that Daphne might've believed her, if she didn't already know how much her friend excelled at bending the truth without actually lying.

"Right," replied Daphne before turning to Theo, who was taking a sip of his pumpkin juice and trying to stay out of the conversation. "Tell me, Nott, how much did you bet on behalf of your girlfriend?"

Theo choked on his juice, ignoring the laughter around him.

"Well?" asked Daphne, still glaring.

"Do you really think I would ask Theo to place a bet in my name?" asked an affronted Tracey, narrowing her eyes at Daphne, who glared right back at her.

"Yes!" the blonde replied.

Harry found the exchange amusing, but his attention quickly shifted to Professor Moody, which he knew to be Crouch Jr., who had just left the staff table and was exiting the Great Hall.

"I'm sorry, but I need to speak with Professor Moody," he said, although no one at the table even noticed, as they were all more focused on the drama unfolding between Daphne, Tracey, and Theo.

Harry quietly caught up to Crouch, reaching him just as he was arriving at his office. He looked around to make sure no one else was watching as he approached the Death Eater in disguise.

"Professor Moody, could I speak with you for a moment?" Harry said, just as Crouch was opening the door.

"Sure thing, Potter, come in," the older man replied, entering the room and moving to sit behind the desk. Harry followed him into the classroom and closed the door, quickly casting locking and silencing spells on it before continuing into the room and approaching the desk.

"What can I do for you then, lad?" asked the false Moody with a smile.

Without a word, Harry drew his wand on the professor.

"Veritas Imperio," he incanted, using a spell of his own design. The false Moody's eyes glazed over, and his face sank into a blank expression.

"What is your name?" Harry asked, wand still in hand.

"Bartemius Crouch, Jr."

"How did you escape Azkaban?"

"My mother convinced my father to help me escape. She was dying and was given Polyjuice, taking my place in Azkaban while my father evacuated me, after having me drink Polyjuice to resemble my mother."

"How have you been kept away from unwanted eyes?"

"My father had me under the Imperius Curse for years, but I managed to fight it and escape last spring."

"To find Voldemort."

"Yes."

"What is his plan for me?"

"The Dark Lord intends to have you reach the Triwizard Cup in the centre of the maze before all the others. It will be a portkey that will send you to a graveyard, where the Dark Lord will be expecting you. Pettigrew will help him use you to perform a ritual to grant the Dark Lord a new body."

"So far, everything is the same. Very good. Time to ask the real questions."

"What are the plans towards Daphne Greengrass?"

"The girl is a pureblood, so she is to remain unharmed. If you seem reluctant to compete, I am permitted to use her to motivate you. She is also a good way to discretely pass you information."

"Good, no harmful plans for Daph."

"What does the Dark Lord know about me? Has he mentioned anything about me or what I have done, particularly after the first task?"

"The Dark Lord is very curious about your sudden development, especially since you beat the dragon. He was also intrigued that you had been re-sorted to Slytherin. His orders were to keep watching you and stick with the original plan."

"Has he told you anything strange, or has he seemed distressed about something for any reason?"

"No."

"Very well. Now listen closely, Crouch," Harry said, raising his wand.

"Obliviate!"

"You will forget that you are under my Veritas Imperio spell. You are to continue Voldemort's plan as if nothing has happened and act as you have all along. You will not hurt, nor cause any harm to Daphne Greengrass under any circumstance. In addition, you will suggest a duelling club for next term. Tell them that you'd like to see the potential of the students. Also, feed the real Mad-Eye Moody and make sure he remains alive and stable."

Harry could see Crouch's eyes shift subtly as the new memories took hold.

"Now, you will believe that we were talking about gillyweed and that you have just suggested I use it for breathing underwater in the second task."

Moody breathed in deeply and looked at Harry, his eyes refocusing.

"Do you understand gillyweed, lad?"

"I do. Thank you, Professor, I'll make sure to get some soon so I can scout out the lake."

"Well said, boy. And remember, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

"Thank you for your help, Professor. Have a nice day."

"You too, Potter."

Harry left the office with a satisfied smirk.

His plans were proceeding even better than he expected.