Okay, I know I lied, I should've updated a week ago, but to apologize I made a 7k chapter, please don't be mad…

I swear I'll try to update before Friday!

Reviews:

Iamshinydragonmist: Totally xD, she can make him do whatever she wants, and he doesn't even realize it.

aSleepyPenguin: Look what he was turned into in this chapter…

As always, we all have to thank Webstriker who once again corrected this chapter!

Thank y'all for the support too!

Enjoy!

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A hooded man was casually walking towards an old gateway. His approach looked calm and composed. If not for the state of the manor, he could pass for a man returning to his home after a long day at work. However, the house looked uninhabitable. Climbing Ivy was going out from the broken windows, the front door was smashed into pieces and the garden looked like a miniature jungle.

The inside of the manor was not brighter, it was totally dark. A thick layer of dust covered the entirety of what was visible. Gravel could be found on almost every inch of the ground, making the house look even more gloomy than it already was. However, a room seemed different, on the first floor one could see light coming from it. That was the room the hooded man was heading to.

From that room came two distinct voices. One was frantically whispering while the other was stronger but also colder and deadlier. The hooded man stopped himself a few steps before the door, straightened himself and tried to remove the dust from his clothes. After a moment he seemed satisfied by the state of his clothes, and he started walking towards the door again.

"You are late," came the deadly voice when the man walked through the door. It came from an armchair that faced the fireplace. "Didn't I tell you to come as soon as possible?"

The hooded man shivered, his eyes and his head lowered on the ground. Not willing to cross the man in front of him in any way. "My apologies, Master. I was held back by the Headmaster. He wanted my opinion about the first task." The person in the armchair produced a little snort, so little that it was barely noticeable because of the crackling of the fire burning.

"While odd, it was not impossible for Potter to manage to kill a dragon. He is powerful, I would not have any interest in him otherwise," the person stopped talking for a second. Before continuing in a voice that would make everyone who hears it the chills. "However, months after it happened, that old fool wants to talk about it, with you. Why?"

The hooded man gulped audibly. "He thinks something is wrong with the boy. He asked me to keep an eye on him. He said that the way the boy managed to pass the first task is odd and asked me if I noticed something with the spell used."

"Did you?"

"No, Master, I did not, if anything the spell was so weak that I did not notice it."

A silence followed his answer. The person seemed to think of something. "Come closer, Crouch." The hooded man instantly executed. "Let me examine that eye of yours." Crouch respectfully handed him the magical eye. His Master examined it for a long time without taking it from Crouch's outstretched hand.

"You did not see anything?" He asked to Crouch, who hastened himself to confirm. "Interesting…" He pondered for a while. "Wormtail!" He suddenly called. The whispering man crouched in a corner of the room hurried himself at his master's side. "Bring me my wand."

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Harry was still dazed; he did not move an inch since Daphne had left him. It could have been a minute or an hour, Harry honestly had no idea, his mind was totally blank. Fortunately, Sadye was in his sleeve. Noticing his friend stillness, he squeezed his arms so he could recollect himself. He often did that, because Harry often needed to. Harry smiled when his felt Sadye around his arm. After gathering his thoughts Harry decided it was time for him to go train.

He still was not able to perform magic silently, since he decided not to count the modified 'Diffindo' spell. There were two reasons why he would not anymore. First because his guts were telling him not to. And most of the time his instincts were right. Secondly, it was just too dangerous to be used in everyday life, everything that could kill a dragon was.

Harry thought about it for a long time and decided he would not use that spell until he really needed it. It was able to kill a dragon, that simple fact was enough for him to understand how dangerous it was.

Arriving near the girls' bathroom, Harry took his map out and checked if he was alone before entering the Chamber. Really, Slytherin could have chosen a better place than a girls' bathroom. It's not mysterious or whatever, just gross.

Arriving in the actual Chamber, Harry headed towards a specific pillar and started to examine it. It attracted Sadye's attention as he got out from Harry's sleeve and watched the pillar too.

"You were right," he said to Harry. "It'sss not here anymore."

"Yeah, sssomehow, the Chamber isss repairing herssself. But it only happensss when we leave it. It'sss almossst like my dorm. Maybe housssesss-elvesss alssso come here…"

Harry pondered for a while about that possibility. It seemed inconceivable, if the elves knew about it, there were no way they did not inform anyway of the Chamber existence and location. While Harry racked his brain, trying to come up with a satisfactory conclusion, Sadye came down from his sleeve and placed himself in front of him.

"What?" Harry finally realized his friend was waiting to tell him something.

"You know you don't have to think about it thisss much," Harry frowned, Sadye was supposed to know him the best, he should know that when his curiosity was piqued like that, he felt the need to come up with a conclusion. A little bit like Hermione. The only difference was that Hermione mainly found her answer with an external output whereas Harry preferred to use his mind and imagination. Magic is coming from ourselves first; I don't understand why we should refer ourselves to books in case like that. I mean, it only serves to close our mind to the infinite other possibilities.

"Wake up you idiot. I didn't mean to give up, jussst to asssk them persssonally," seeing that Harry still did not get it, Sadye produced something close to a sigh. "Call Dobby."

"Oh." He was so caught off guard, he did not realize he turned back to English. "Dobby?" He called uncertainly.

Pop!

A house-elf appeared in the strangest attire. A tea cozy filled with numerous badges on his head, a horseshoe patterned tie over his bare chest, a soccer short and two mismatched socks. One was Harry's from second year and the other was a mix between orange and pink stripes. The elf was beaming at Harry, his huge eyes gleaming like crystals.

"Harry Potter, sir, has finally called for Dobby, sir!" The elf squealed with joy. "Dobby is very happy, sir!"

"Hello Dobby, how are you today?" Harry asked more by habit than anything else. Not letting Dobby the time to do anything else than frantically nod, he resumed. "I wanted to ask you something about the room we're in now. What do you know about it?"

"Dobby is not sure, sir," the house-elf started to fidget awkwardly, looking around him frenetically. "Dobby is only here because Harry Potter sir called Dobby, sir. Dobby is never see this room, sir." His two bulging eyes fell on the damaged carcass of the Basilisk and yelped audibly.

Seeing that Dobby started showing signs of willing to hurt himself, Harry quickly interrupted whatever he would have done otherwise. "It's alright Dobby, I just wanted to know if the elves came down here to clean up, like the rest of the castle." It seemed to have calmed him a little.

"No, Harry Potter sir," Dobby once again let his eyes wander around the Chamber. "This place is not need cleaning, Harry Potter, sir. It is doing it alone, Harry Potter sir."

That piece of information was something he already was pretty sure of. Dobby just confirmed it.

"Alright, thank you Dobby. Can you please not tell anyone about this room though?" His eyes were looking at the giant snake body. "As you can see, it is not really the safest place out there."

"You's thank Dobby? Harry Potter sir is too kind, you's even said please. What a great wizard," Dobby's eyes started to fill up with tears. "Dobby is never telling anyone Harry Potter sir's secrets! Never!"

This got Harry to smile. He was not in any way a protector of elves' rights like Hermione, but Dobby was his friend, and he as glad his friend was now free. Even if his ways were uncommon, he still tried to save his life when he was still under Malfoy's orders. It means to go against his own nature, he must have punished himself a lot more than what Harry witnessed.

"Thank you, Dobby. If you don't mind it's time for me to train for a while."

"Is Harry Potter sir wanting Dobby to bring him food?" The elf sounded a little worried as his eyes were fixed on the dead body.

"That would be great, thank you."

Pop!

Just like that the elf disappeared without a trace, and Harry decided it was time for him to get to his training.

After a quick Tempus, Harry noticed it was time for dinner. He was once again marveled by how quickly the time passed when he was training. The fact that Dobby never came back did not help too. Harry had some theories about that. Either Dobby had other obligations he had to fulfil before bringing him food and he forgot about him. Harry found that hard to believe. The second option is that it had something to do with the Chamber in itself and the fact that no elf knew where it was.

Today training was centered again on the silent incantation. However, no matter how much time he tried, nothing seemed to work. Harry resigned himself, knowing he was not going to succeed today. He decided to try another method he came up with. Meditate so he could reach his magic and try to make it move as he wished, maybe it could help him with his silent casting.

At first it seemed like it worked well. But after some time, Harry realized that he could not move his magic out of his body with that method. He noticed he could move his magic all around his body and that it had some effect depending on where it focused.

In his eyes, it made him discover a whole new world. When he put magic in his eyes, he could see the magic around him. Or at least that is what he hypothesized. If he was true, it would mean that the Chamber was flooding with magic. So much that it was almost blinding.

Well, I guess it made sense. After all it was built by Salazar Slytherin himself. There's no way the Chamber would be free of magic.

Harry wanted to examine the Chamber a lot more, but unfortunately his eyes started to burn. The pain was starting to be unbearable so he decided to free the magic focused on his eyes, fearing he would become even more blind than he already was.

That was the only noteworthy place to focus his magic though. His muscles would just become stronger, but not to a superhuman stage. And even if it did, Harry saw no interest in that. He knew he was a little underfed since ever, magic would not replace years of lacking just like that. His body was not something he could count on in a fight anyway. Sure, it would be better for him to be in better shape, but magic could not do that, and with his training he had no time to spare to exercise his body.

I'm famished, I should get going.

The moment Harry got out; he heard a familiar Pop! sound.

"Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby's voice came to his ears before he saw him. "Dobby was worried for Harry Potter sir! Dobby could not find Harry Potter sir to bring him food!" He started pulling his ears hard toward the ground. "Dobby is a bad elf." His head made a quick dive towards the closest sink. "Bad elf, Dobby… Harry Potter's food…"

Harry could not understand any of the word the elf whispered but quickly understood he was trying to punish himself, and there was no way he would let him.

"Stop! Dobby don't punish yourself! Stop it, I said! C'mon Dobby," Harry caught the elf by his sides and pulled him out of the sink where he was apparently trying to imprint his face on. "It was not your fault Dobby, the Chamber is made so no one could find it, plus I was not that hungry."

When Dobby finally calmed himself, Harry managed to explain his theory to him. That Dobby could only come down the Chamber when someone called him from there. It would be unattainable without that.

"Okay, it's now time for me to go to the Great Hall, dinner should be served soon! See you soon Dobby!"

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Harry knew he should have asked Chaos for a day off. His training to protect his mind was going smoothly. He was now in the phase where he had to squeeze his memories into a tiny globe. This required different steps, and he was at the first; review them and put them into a corner of his mind. Literally.

When Chaos explained it to Harry, he thought it was a joke. How could he remember everything that had happened in his life and then check them one by one? It would take too much time. Fortunately, it did not really work like that. According to Chaos, he only had to review the emotions the memories gave. Sure, it would still take time, but less than it would have taken otherwise. Plus, in his "dream" it worked even faster. The perks of living a boring and repetitive life before eleven, was that it made the whole process faster. In one night, he managed to get to his tenth birthday.

Harry was on his way to lunch, his mind still fuzzy from yesterday's sleepless night. Something bothered him, he knew something important was supposed to happen today, but he could not recall what. His mind was cloudy, he could not focus on anything more than ten seconds, otherwise his thoughts became incomprehensible.

He sat himself next to Ron and in front of Hermione. Both still bickering about who-knows-what. He did not care though; his mind was too exhausted to pay them any attention. He slowly served himself some sausage, pumpkin juice and a toast. He must have done something really stupid because his friends stopped their arguments to look at him weirdly.

"What?"

They looked at each other and started laughing hard. So hard that Ron had tears in his eyes. What the…? Oh… And then he started laughing too.

He finally understood what was wrong, he felt that his sausage was a little bit too hard than usual. However, he thought it was because it was just overcooked. He had no idea at all that the sausage he was trying to eat was actually his fork.

Damn I could have broken my teeth!

"Did the Ice Queen froze your brain too?" Ron managed to say between his laughs. Hermione must have told him about yesterday— Oh crap! Daphne, the Yule Ball!

Harry quickly turned his head too look at Slytherin table. Daphne was here but did not look at him. She was in a deep conversation with her friend. Was it Tracey? He caught Astoria's eyes though; and she happily waved at him. Waving back, Harry realized the rendezvous Daphne gave him was actually after lunch, and not breakfast, that made him sigh in relief.

"Ugh… Actually, I forgot about that…" He said miserably. "She told me to join her today after lunch, and honestly if you did not remind me of her just now, I might not have gone. And she would've killed me." Harry shuddered at the thought. "Thank you for saving my life, mate."

The trio laughed at that.

"If you want to repay me, don't let me die alone!" Hermione smacked the back of his head quite hard.

"Don't say things like that Ron!" She admonished him

"Ouch! It was a joke Hermione. A joke!" He kept eating as he never was interrupted. "I'm sure she will at a point, though. I mean freeze your brain, and when it will happen you'll owe me 1 galleon." They all laughed at that.

Harry was done with his lunch, it helped him wake up a little more than before. He was still exhausted but at least the important part of his cognitive ability seemed to be functional again. He should be able to discuss with Daphne without making a fool of himself.

She was not like his other friends who would laugh if he did though. He just did not want to show her this side of him. He preferred her to only see his best facets.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

At the same time somewhere else, two old women were quietly walking in a wheat field. No words were spoken but while one seemed to be as calm as a frozen lake, the other was as agitated as an ocean during a storm.

Their existences have a sense, even their deaths mean something. Why am I the only one who has to live and die without a purpose?

I'm not inferior to them in any way, and one day I will show everyone

But for now, let's just walk, it's not time yet.

One of the two women slightly sighed, breaking her calm expression for a second. The other for her part seemed to have calmed herself.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Back at Hogwarts, Harry and Daphne were both at their spot despite the cold weather, discussing about the upcoming ball.

"What colour is your dress robe?" Daphne asked. "I don't want us to be mismatched, it should be either black or dark green," She looked into Harry's eyes for a moment before quickly looking away.

Harry remembered the dress she was talking about. It was the one Mrs. Weasley bought for him.

"They're bottle green, according to Mrs. Weasley since I wouldn't be able to tell myself."

Daphne smiled. "Perfect, I love that colour!" Her cheeks reddening a little bit.

"Are you cold?" Harry was worried that she caught a cold. "Your nose and cheeks are red."

"What? Uh, no don't worry about that." She straightened herself. "More importantly, about the dance."

Harry's stomach made a looping. He did not inform her that he could not dance. His mind was crazily racing to find a suitable excuse for not telling her before, and why he could not dance. He may be friends with her and her sister, he never told them how his life with the Dursley was, he did not even tell them he was raised by muggle. He knew they were not prejudiced like Malfoy was, he still preferred to not inform people about them, he was too ashamed of them. Not because they had no magic but rather because of the way they acted, and the way he was treated.

Suddenly he felt a hand gently squeezing his shoulder. "Harry? Are you still here?" Daphne looked at him worriedly.

"Yeah sorry, I had something in mind." She smiled at his answer. That gave him the courage to tell her about his dancing skills, or rather his lack of them. "Ugh… Daphne, I forgot to tell you… But… I can't dance…" He stuttered lamely with his head lowered feeling ashamed. "I mean I have to, but I never learned to, sorry."

Daphne laughed gently, which caused him to lower his head more. Harry could not be more ashamed than now. He wanted to run and hide in the Chamber, or better, just bury himself into the ground and just disappear.

"Oh, Harry I'm sorry for laughing. I was not laughing because you could not dance, but rather because you made a big deal out of it." Her two hands reached the sides of his head and raised his head so their eyes could meet. "Dancing is not that hard, I can teach you, don't worry about it."

After a moment where only some splashing sounds coming from the lake could be heard, Daphne seemed to realize the position they were in because she quickly released his head.

"Hum… Anyway, we should start today if you're ready. We can use an empty classroom, there are a load of them."

"Yeah, right, let's do that."

"Alright now Harry, put your right hand on my back." They easily found a classroom on the seventh floor. Since it was the less used, the risks of being caught by someone were low. "Not here, a little lower… Excellent."

Harry should feel awkward, or at least shy, but the shame he felt some minutes prior made him immune to whatever emotions he could feel right now. He could not feel worse than he did back then.

He found waltz very amusing, he thought it was weird some people had one day thought of holding someone in their arms and move in circle and decided it would be their new way of entertainment It certainly looked good from an outside perspective, but right now as Harry was the one dancing, and trying very hard not to stomp Daphne's feet, it did not look that good. Except maybe for Daphne, she is even prettier when she is focused on something, with her eyebrows furrowed...

"What in Merlin's name is that?" Daphne's voice interrupted his thoughts. She took a step back, looking at Harry's left arm with a worried expression on her face. "Don't move, Harry. Let me handle this, I know a spell." She said as she took her wand out.

Harry frowned, not understanding what was happening.

"Damn it! I wanted to get out of here, before she could notissse me on your arm," a voice said. "Well, it didn't work I guesssss, you should fix that, since I'm unable to."

That made Harry realizes what was happening. Daphne must have seen Sadye and thought he was going to harm him. To prevent any accident, Harry raised his arms. "Wait, wait. It's not what you think, he's just a friend!" I could have say it in a different way, I don't know why but it sounds wrong.

Daphne lowered her wand hesitantly. "Harry? What did you say? I can't understand Parseltongue."

Harry blinked once, twice, not understanding why she was talking about Parseltongue. Ohhh, right, I must have switched to it when I heard Sadye. It's really not practical at all.He focused for a moment and tried again.

"Sorry, I can't really control it. I was saying to not worry, he's my friend; Sadye." He motioned the snake on his arm. "He's totally inoffensive, or at least he is to me and my friends."

She looked at him curiously. "You can't control it? What does that mean?"

Ugh, she entered into Hermione's mode. He could see in her eyes a sort of greed for details he only saw in Hermione's eyes before. And Harry found that terrifying.

"I meant that when I see a snake or one is talking to me, my brain automatically switches to Parseltongue, and I don't notice it. It' really weird, to be honest."

Daphne looked pensive for a moment, and unlike what he thought at first, she did not ask any more questions. She just smiled at him. "Shall we resume our danse lesson?"

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Days kept passing quickly for Harry. Between his mind exercise his training in the Chamber and the dancing lessons with Daphne he had no time to slack off, they were in Christmas holidays, but the professors did not seem to care as their workload was heavier than it ever was. Hermione told them that it was because their O.W.L.S. were coming soon. Since they still had more than a year before that, Ron and Harry promptly decided to ignore her input on the matter and resumed cursing at their teacher every chance they had. They found that exercise very stress relieving.

Harry received Sirius' answer to his letter. Congratulating him for the first task and telling him that Harry's idea was better than his. It was a Conjunctivitis Curse, the one Krum used according to Hermione. He also told him to not get complacent since the one who placed his name in the cup did not achieve what he wanted yet. So, he was still in danger.

Harry was done reviewing his memories the night before Christmas and was ready to take the next step. However, Chaos told him to wait the next night since he was exhausted both mentally and physically. Since they ended earlier than usual, it meant that Harry had more time to sleep. However, he should have known something that sweet could simply not happen to him.

This morning he was violently waken up by a weight dropping on his torso. Ugh waza? He quickly opened his eyes and was welcomed by two large eyes looking straight in his. Harry fell from his bed because of the shock.

"Dobby!" He yelled. "Don't do that, damn it! You scared me to death." Harry put a hand on his heart, as to verify if it was still beating properly.

"Dobby is sorry, sir!" The elf squealed anxiously, stepped back, and covered his mouth with his hands. "Dobby is only wanting to bring Harry Potter his gift and tell him 'Merry Christmas' sir."

"Oh… Yeah alright Dobby," He remembered Dobby actually asked him for permission last week. "Sorry about that Dobby, it was just a little too abrupt, try doing it more gently next time, alright?"

The elf's eyes started filling up with tears. "Next time? Oh, Harry Potter sir, is son kid to allow Dobby to come again —"

Someone fortunately interrupted Dobby's tirade by suddenly opening the curtain of his bed. Ron's worried face appeared, his wand already in his hand.

"Are you alright in here Harry?" The red-haired boy' eyes fell on Dobby, and he sighed in relief. "Oh, it's just you Dobby, I'm going back to sleep, g'night."

"Presents!" Seamus' voice resonated in their dorm. Dobby must have woken up everyone.

That is how Harry's morning went. Opening different present and at the same occasion give a pair of socks to Dobby since he forgot to buy him something. The elf did not seem to care as he cried of joy when he received it. Ron decided to give one of his too and actually got a hug from Dobby.

The latter when he opened Harry's gift was grateful, as if Harry just saved his life. Harry was proud he thought of that while he was with Daphne. It was a new dress robe, way better than the one Mrs. Weasley gave him. It was dark blue, the same style as Harry's but with a different colour. At first Ron wanted to refuse it, since he said it was too expensive for him to accept but finally gave up trying to reject when Harry told him it was not only his gift but also Daphne's.

When they joined Hermione in the Common Room, Ron asked her the usual question, namely who she was going to the ball to. Harry was curious as well, but Hermione was not open to any discussion; "You'll see tonight, quit asking me.", was her answer.

After eating sweets to their contempt and talking about everything and anything, they decided to go down to the grounds and participated the giant snowball fight the twins' organized for the afternoon. Hermione did not participate though, preferring to watch. When it was five o'clock she told them she was going to her dorm to get ready for the ball. And when she was leaving Ron asked again about her partner, more for the sake of it though, he already know she would not answer since he immediately got back to the snowball fight.

When the remaining fighters were too cold to aim properly they decided to sign a peace treaty and go back to their Common Room and warm themselves up around the fire. Coincidentally it was nearly time for them to get ready for the ball, it was actually seven o'clock, so they still had time but being ready a little bit earlier would not hurt anyone.

They went up to their dorm and started getting ready. When everyone was dressed up they started fighting get an access to the bathroom, where the only mirror was, Ron obviously won and took his time arranging his hair in a classy way. Harry rushed in when Ron went out.

"Harry," whined Seamus. "Come on, you know very well you won't be able to tame that nest you got up here, don't waste our time please."

He was not wrong, there was no way his hair could be styled up like Ron did to his. However, it was not what Harry got in mind when he went in. What he wanted was in fact the total opposite, he was going to mess with his hair even more, giving him a negligee look. The same he did when the two foreign delegations arrived in Hogwarts. He actually received appreciative comments from a lot of people, plus it seemed to enrage Snape, so it was even better. When he found his hair to be adequate, he finally let his friends get in the bathroom however they wanted, it was not his business anymore.

"Come on Ron, let's get our partner." Harry said happily, he was in a pretty good mood since everything in his life seemed to go smoothly.

When they joined Parvati, they both awkwardly complimented her, she was really pretty with her very pink robes and golden bracelets on her wrists. They then asked people for Hermione's whereabouts but as no one knew where she was, Harry decided it was time for him to get his partner as well. He left for the dungeons as agreed with Daphne and waited for her at the top of the stairs leading to their dungeons Common Room. He saw Malfoy and Parkinson, walking past him. They did not say anything to him, looking a little scared of what he did to the blond back then. It made Harry happy, at least they would not bother him anymore, especially considering his partner for the night.

Taking about her, she was climbing the stairs. And the moment he got to see her better, his brain actually froze. He was not capable of uttering any words nor thoughts. His mouth was slightly open as she came next to him in her white and emerald-green dress. It was almost totally white, but the edges were green interlaced with golden threads. The robe in itself was beautiful, however the person who wore it was even more beautiful.

Harry was still looking at Daphne, trying to come up with words to describe how pretty she looked right now. Sure, he always found her good looking since the first day they talked during the world cup. She was the most beautiful girl he knew, except for the French champion. However, it seemed that she decided to just not care and take the first place of that unofficial ranking.

After some time being as talkative as a rock, Harry decided to try telling her how good she looked, but it did not come out quite how he wanted.

"Ahuh… Gooday…" What the… Am I three or what?! Work brain! Damn it!

A beautiful sound drew him out of his thoughts. Daphne's crystal-clear laugh woke him up, and almost made him lose himself in it. Harry knew Chaos probably was slapping his own face out od frustration right now, thinking about all the time they passed trying to reinforce his mind only for him to be made a fool of in a split second.

Damn him, I'm sure he never was confronted with someone like that in his entire life. He knew how stupid it sounded, given that Chaos was older than the whole castle combined.

"I did not quite catch what you were trying to say Harry," Daphne's voice resonated in the hall. "Care to enlighten me?"

Harry cleared his throat, not willing to repeat the same mistake. "I was saying… YoulookabsolutelystunningtodayDaphen,notthatyoudontusuallybuttodayisonawholeotherlevel —"

"Wow, calm down Harry," She laughed again and raised her manicured hands. "Slower, come on you can do it."

Harry knew she was teasing him, and if it was anyone else, he probably would be angry. However, it was the first time she teased him, she never did that before, and Harry always thought it was because she did not feel at ease with him.

"Sorry," he finally said. "I was saying that today you were even more beautiful than usual…" He cleared his throat. "And your dress is pretty."

He managed to finish without lowering his head in shame for his precedent blunders. Daphne was looking at him with a huge smile on her face. It happens a lot these days, not like before…

"Thank you Harry!" Her eyes wandering on him, made Harry shy. "You're quite dashing too." She finally looked at his hair and a smirk appeared on her face. "Nice hairstyle by the way, I like the negligee look." Harry's face instantly became as red as Ron's hair.

She took his arm in hers and started walking int the direction of the Great Hall. "I hope you're ready Harry, because tonight we will dance until I can't no more!" She said with a devilish smile that made Harry's stomach drop. He thought he would just have to dance once at the start, but Madam's plans were different. No rest for the brave, I guess. He thought with intern sigh at the risk of being heard by Her Majesty the Ice Queen.

On the way to the Great Hall the awkwardness that was present at first completely vanished in the air. They were talking about everything and anything. They were in their own world and took some time to notice that their entrance made most of the students go quiet. Harry realized something was wrong the moment Daphne's cold mask suddenly reappeared on her face. He looked around and every pair of eyes presents in front of the Great Hall were fixed on them. Even Professor McGonagall, who just called the champions and their partner to wait on the sides of the huge oak doors, looked at them, a curious expression on her face.

The French Champion was accompanied by the captain of Ravenclaw Quidditch team. He was looking at her with a dreamy expression on his face. Harry could understand him, honestly she looked stunning, he had to give her that. Cedric and Cho were here too, however the biggest surprise of tonight was Krum's partner. Harry's jaw had a meet up with the ground.

It was Hermione.

However, she did not look like Hermione at all. Her hair was not bushy as the used too, instead it was sleek, shiny and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. Her robes were made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material. In short she was pretty, even more when she smiled nervously at him, he then noticed that her front teeth were not as prominent as they usually were.

"Hi, Harry!" she said. "Hi, Daphne!"

Daphne kindly smiled at her, as if she did not find anything weird with her change in appearance. Harry did, and he knew her way before Daphne did.

The door opened and a lot of people walked past them. Among them were Pansy Parkinson who was gaping, either at Hermione or at Harry and Daphne, he could not tell, and did not care. Ron passed too but was too engrained in his conversation with Parvati to notice anything. Harry was sure if he did, his jaw would greet the ground too.

When it was time for the champions to finally enter the Great Hall, they were welcomed by a round of applause by everyone present. Professor McGonagall led them to the table where the judges were sitting, where the teachers' table was supposed to be. Harry had to admit; the elves outdid themselves. The Great Hall never looked that good than it did today, the walls were covered in sparkling silver frost with hundreds of garlands od mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The Houses tables too had vanished replaced by about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones.

Percy was seated at the judges table too and engaged the conversation as soon as Harry and Daphne sat down. He introduced himself formally to Daphne; who he seemed to know; and told them he was replacing Mr. Crouch as he was now his personal assistant. They both congratulated him and were saved from the incoming monologue by Professor Dumbledore's voice. "Pork chops!" And pork chops appeared in front of him. A lot of students did the same after witnessing that.

Hermione who should normally be against such elves-slavery food, did not seem to pay attention to what she was eating as she was in a deep conversation with Viktor Krum. Harry still could not believe his eyes, his best friend was actually discussing with Viktor Krum, the Quidditch super star. Harry decided it would do him no good to think about that anymore and started focusing himself on what his partner was saying. She was asking him about the second task, and if he had any lead, but before he could answer her, they were interrupted by Cedric.

"Hi, Harry! I forgot to thank you for last time, you know about that ting." Cedric winked at him. "Oh, look at my manners, sorry." He motioned Cho with his hand. "Let me introduce you my date for tonight, Cho Chang. She's the Ravenclaw Seeker, I'm sure you remember her."

Harry nodded at her and told Cedric his help was nothing worth mentioning. Harry then turned his head in the direction of Daphne. She smiled at him and introduced herself too.

"A Gryffindor and a Slytherin, whew, Harry you don't go in for subtleties." Cedric winked at him. "You found quite the rare gem, if I may say."

"Thank you, Diggory." Daphne said.

"Wat is wrong wiz Slysserin and Gryffindor?" Harry sighed loudly when he heard the heavy French accent butt in their conversation, and everyone looked at him weirdly, except the owner of the voice who was eying him dangerously.

Daphne decided to answer her question. "A rivalry, if we can say, exists between those two houses since their foundation. And it still remains the same today." She briefly resumed. If Harry was honest, he hated Slytherin house only because of Draco's gang, Snape, and Voldemort. Nothing to do with some founders' rivalry, actually he found that reason stupid but did not say anything since he did not want to entertain the French champion.

"Zat's stupid, why would anyone keep a thousand-year-old rivalry?" She snorted elegantly.

"Our character doesn't match, we're total opposite." Said Harry and Daphne at the same time.

They looked at each other a laughed.

"I can see zat…"

After some time of idle talk between all the champions and their partner, Harry had to confess Delacour was not as bad as he first thought. The first impression he had of her was bad but now she was quite funny and outgoing, nothing like what she usually looked like.

"Come on Harry, it's time." Daphne told him when the Weird Sisters climbed up the stage.

Harry's stomach made a flip, and another. They had trained for that moment the whole week, and Harry was not as bad as he was at first, but he still could not convince his brain everything would be okay. Just like before a Quidditch match. The only difference was that in Quidditch he had some confidence in his skills.

Okay, maybe it was not that bad. Harry conceded after a lot of dances with Daphne,. His legs were weak, however Daphne's expression made it worth. She seemed to have much more fun than he ever saw her. They changed partner twice; once with Hermione—where he could finally tell her how good she looked tonight— and once with Ron. The latter looked a little bummed out by Hermione and Krum but did not say anything. Harry was quite surprised by his self-control, if it was the old-Ron he probably would have lashed out on Hermione. When Harry secretly slipped a galleon in his friends' pocket, and quickly escaped, not willing to see his smug face. Plus, Parvati looked quite happy by her night. So, everything was great.

The other highlight of the night was Bagman being chased by the twins. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for everyone present who were enjoying the show, Percy Weasley came to stop his brothers.

Before finally coming back to their dorms, Cedric asked Daphne if he could talk privately with Harry and informed him that he should try to take a bath with the egg in the prefects' bathroom. The information was odd, but he did not see any reason why Cedric would lie so he decided he would try it soon.

"So, what did Diggory want?" Daphne asked him while they were walking in the dungeon direction.

"He gave me a clue, about the second task."

She frowned at that. "Why would he do that, you're competitors."

"Well, I might have told him about the dragons."

His dance partner looked bewildered for a moment then quietly laughed. "Of course, what was I excepting from you. And I guess that's why he was thanking you?"

"Yup." Harry popped the p.

They walked in silence for a while, just enjoying the moment.

"Alright, I can continue alone from there," Daphne suddenly said after turning herself to face him. "Thank you for tonight, Harry. Really, I mean it." She stood on her toes, kissed his cheek, and turned around quickly taking the direction of her Common Room.

Harry who wanted to ask her if she was sure she did not want him to accompany her further, and also thank her for one of the best night he had just stood here on the spot, frozen.

"Aghu?" He managed to utter after a moment.

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Aight, see you before Friday I hope!

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