The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station around quarter past six, just as the sun was just threatening to drop below the horizon, creating a gorgeous orange glow that in any other scenario, would have been a rather speculator way to begin the school year.

Daphne's heart was in her mouth as she stepped down off the train, as it had been just about the entire journey since she left the toilet. This was the worst of it, she knew. She also knew that no matter how much preparation she gave herself, it wasn't going to go how she planned. The student population moved out and towards the self-pulled carriages, but she slowed to linger behind them.

Tracey wanted to wait with her, but soon realised exactly what her intentions were. After much convincing, she reluctantly went ahead and left Daphne alone in the station. She just needed to keep the same stone-faced expression she had while talking to Tracey and she'd done fine.

That was the plan, but it was a fruitless hope. Even just hearing Tracey's voice when she told her was enough to make her start doubting herself. She may be thundering towards a head-on collision, but it was too late to turn back now.

There was still no sign of Harry as the last students emptied out of the train. Tracey and her had been some of the first off, so there wasn't a chance he'd gotten off before them. She'd also deliberately chosen her uphill position so she'd been looking down at the crowd as they approached and passed, and again, she was certain that he hadn't passed her.

Just as she was about to call it quits, Draco, of all people, emerged into sight. At first she thought he hadn't noticed her, but as he moved past her, he turned to her with a sneer.

"If you're waiting on your boyfriend, he'll probably be a while."

Trust reality to try and make this even more difficult on her than it already had to be.

When Draco left she waited an extra five minutes to be absolutely sure, then Daphne stepped back onto the train via the same exit she'd left. The first carriage was completely empty, bar the blinds bent out of position and empty crisp wrappers on the floor that told her this was once a first-year carriage. She crossed into the second, and again, nothing but ruins.

Approaching the carriage she and Tracey had been sitting in earlier, she noticed something; this one had the blinds on it's door down.

Stepping inside she found all of it's windows were drawn shut as well. That was unusual, as they definitely were not drawn when she had left, nor had any of the other carriages been tidied up like that. Not thinking anything more of it, she marched down the space between the seats, then proceed to trip over a solid piece of air and launch herself the remainder of the way down the carriage.


They were just about within sight of the grounds gates when Harry was finally able to speak. Initially he was unable to move or walk at all, but a few counter curses and he'd been at least able to get a few feet without falling. Uphill had been the hard part, not merely because she was having to drag her luggage up, but also now had his weight on her shoulder. With his glasses and wand wrapped in his invisible cloak in one hand and the other gripping tightly at his shirt, she had just about reached the top of the hill when she finally collapsed onto one knee. He finally had the strength to support his own weight and relieved himself from her, which could not have come a moment sooner.

On the bright side, the exercise had done a huge favour on her part, as now it was easy to pretend her pounding senses was from the exhaustion and not her raging anxieties.

Harry staggered to side, catching his breathing.

"You're a lifesaver…" he wheezed. "Malfoy got me with a stunning jinx, if… If you hadn't have come…"

He recovered enough to turn and get a look at her, hands on his hips. Despite his nose being all but entirely exploded across his face, he was smiling brightly. Not like Daphne's forced, through-the-teeth-smile she'd been giving earlier. A genuine, happy smile, and one that she was about to ruin.

"Daphne…" he moved to help her to her feet.

She took a quick step back and held an arm out between them for good measure.

He stopped in his tracks. His smile didn't disappear completely, but did fade slightly.

"What's up?"

Daphne braced herself. The next part of the conversation did not feel like she was a part of it.

"We can't see each other anymore."

After she spoke, Harry's face turned into that of a slapped child. It took clearly took him a second to decide on his emotions. He looked puzzled, like he was waiting for a further explanation, but as her words seemed to add up in his head that look then changed to despair. From an outside perspective it might have even looked like she was the one who had just broke his nose.

It shattered her heart instantly to see him like that, and even more so because she was the one putting him through it.

"What do you mean?"

He seemed to ask that more out of confusion than anything.

"You need to stay away from me from now on. For both of our sake. We have had our fun, but it's over now."

Her voice was grave and serious. She wasn't asking, she was warning.

She wished she could speak to him honestly. If she had the courage, she would break down and confess everything that had happened to her. If she could make him understand her situation then he'd work with her, no doubt about it. He'd want to help her and stop at nothing until she was safety by his side again.

And that was exactly why she needed this to be a situation he couldn't follow her up on. The worst thing she could do was be around him. She was saving his life, so there was not a hint of regret in her mind right now.

His expression twisted, he looked to be trying to find his words. After a moments more considering, he eventually settled on a desolate voice.

"But ...why?"

She was about to spew more horrible rubbish to him, but the words never left her throat. She realised in that second that her willpower had run its course. There was a full script prepared in her head with words specifically designed to hurt him; about her finding somebody better, someone stronger, and that she was an idiot ever being attracted to him. Words to make him hate her and stay as far away from her as he could. Yet, in spite of all the planning and rehearsing done in her head, never once had the words feel like hers and even now, when she needed them, they never seemed further away.

Instead she was silent. Though her glare remained, she was unable to keep up her facade any longer. Her full drawn-out breakup speech wasn't going to happen, but she'd gotten out the bare minimum of what she'd needed to say.

Now she needed to get away from him. She took her luggage in her hand and resumed her ascension up the hill.

"Daphne?" he shouted instantly after her.

She marched forward, continuing to blank him until she was almost within sight of the carriages.

Once there, with any luck the last of the students would have already been taken up and she could have the trip in isolation. Then she could go back to locking herself away in her room. That was what she needed right now.

Isolation was the only constantly reassuring companion for her. It was only when she decided to stray from it's comfort zone that all of this trouble had started in the first place. She could be the Daphne she wanted to be when she was on her own, without fear of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person or letting childish bodily urges overtake her. Now it was time for her to return there, because this did not need to be any more painful than it already had to be.

Her thought train was interrupted when a sudden rough tug on her arm dragged her back to reality. She was whirled around on the spot, and came face-to-face with a bloodied, mangled nose.

"Daphne!"

"Don't touch me!"

Without leaving a second of time to think, she tore her arm from his grasp, snatched her wand from her sleeve and jammed it into his chest. He backed away instantly, but his mood did not falter.

"Sorry! Just, Daphne... whats going on?!"

There was a sincerity in his voice that caught her off-guard.

It would have been so much easier if he just shouted at her. That was all she and her father did, shout relentlessly at each other then apologise after it got out of hand. She could handle that just fine, it was the sensitive stuff that broke her down. He showed no intention of arguing with her, and even when he grabbed her it hadn't been at full force.

"What's gone on? If I've done something wrong… if somethings' changed... just tell me what this is all about!" he pleaded. "Is it to do with Malfoy?"

She shook her head. She knew nothing she could say would settle him down, and the only things she could say would also compromise him in the process.

"It's not, Draco, Harry. And it's not you... "

"Then what is it? Who is it? Talk to me about it, I'll listen."

"I'm trying to help you..."

"How is this helping me?" he snapped back. "We've just finally got things sorted out! I don't see what your problem is?"

He was getting progressively more frustrated, she could tell. She didn't blame him either, she knew she was being completely uncooperative, but that was the plan. Nonetheless, despite his rising anger, she never felt like she was in any danger. In fact, she wished with all her heart that she could give him solace he was begging for right now.

"Things aren't sorted out. They never will be, Harry. Not for you and me... " she shook her head solemnly as she gestured between them. "It was nice while it lasted but we agreed we would only do this for a short time. It was never on the cards for us to have a future together. That's caught up with us now. I'm sorry about that, really. But it's ov-."

That time it had come out differently.

It was the apology that finally did it. This time it had gotten to her as well. She snapped shut her eyes and knew if she opened them again then tears would start to follow. Nobody had seen her cry before and that wasn't about to start now.

She pushed herself back to Borgin and Burkes. She visualised the smooth, pale face of the Dark Lord. The presence of his gigantic snake as it crossed her path. The ominous cackling of Bellatrix Lestrange in the background. The yellow eyes of the wolf man.

She had met You-Know-Who on good terms and felt absolutely petrified. She latched onto that fear.

She knew being on the wrong side of the Dark Lord meant a fate worse than death - and that was if the terror of it didn't kill you first. That would be the fate to await Harry if this didn't go exactly how she planned. The Dark Lord would be angry with her for the breakup, but she'd twist the tale when she relayed it back to him, just like the first time. She could cover her own back, but her words couldn't do anything to protect Harry.

The only protection she could give him was her absence.

"Daphne… I don't want this. I know we weren't seeing each other for long, but you said yourself - how much we've sacrificed for this - we owe it to ourselves! We've earned this! After everything that was said, after what you said to me, what I said to you, y-you can't just spring this out of nowhere! Talk to me! You make me happy, Daphne, and I know you feel the same way."

If his words had come a second earlier they might have been the final thing needed to get through to her, but it was too late. She'd found her resolve, and with a steadying breath, opened her eyes.

"But it's not enough."

He responded instantly, pleading.

"Then what will be enough?"

She took another breath, and tried again in her calmest tone.

"Just... Just leave me alone."

"Why?"

He himself looked border-lining on tears. His face was red, unrelated to the blood smeared across it, and his fists were balled up in anger. Again, she felt no anger, just sympathy for him. She had long come to terms over the holidays about this happening, but he was having it all dropped on him at once.

"Why!?" he repeated, angrier, and then, "Because I've gone through a lot so we could be together! Not as much as you - I know - but enough to deserve an explanation why!"

He was being relentless. Obviously this was very different for him than it was for her. Every word from Daphne's mouth was an uphill struggle, whereas he was able to shout and scream to his heart's desire, even if it was to no avail.

"I'm…"

Her voice cracked and she started again, quieter.

"I'm… trying... to save you."

"From who?"

She was silent. She'd said too much already, she was risking herself just by talking to him and now she was in full-blown compromising himself. She knew too well that the walls had ears and eyes in at Hogwarts.

She needed to get away, Harry was clever, she knew he'd be able to figure it out her implication from there. Likely the only reason he hadn't done now was because his mind was too clogged to focus.

"From who, Daphne?!"

"WHO DO YOU THINK?"

A nearby flow of crows suddenly left their nest. Harry recoiled slightly, taking a step back. He too, looked suddenly like he was about to make a run for it.

It wasn't just her scream that startled him, but the implication behind it as well.

"... Daphne?"

He had said her name like that a lot of times this night, but that was the first one that actually sounded like a question.

She stormed away from the scene. An under her breath spell and her luggage suddenly snapped into her hand. He shouted something behind her, probably more begs for explanation, but she couldn't hear him. The ringing heartbeat in her ears had blocked out all noises, and she was struggling to see the path ahead of her through her tear-stained eyes.

Her heart was in her mouth as she reached the top of the in-climb, and it came with great relief when she finally saw the tall tops of the grounds gates, each one topped with a golden winged boar. She was cold, angry, hungry and about a second away from her knees buckling out from under her.

As she emerged out into a clearing, she walked straight into sight of three people that she definitely did not need to be dealing with right now.

"There you are!" Professor Fitwick squeaked. "I did wonder what all that commotion was about! I've been looking all over for you, we thought Mister Malfoy and Miss Lovegood were the last ones! Don't suppose Mister Potter is with you?"

An almost instinctual reaction happened inside of her, suddenly sucking every tear back inside her skull and returning her face to it's usual appearance. Filch and Professor Snape lingered by the entrance manning some kind of makeshift security station, where they stood arguing with Draco. Luna Lovegood, of all people, floated nearby, and appeared to have been in conversation with Professor Flitwick a moment earlier.

To say Daphne's arrival had not gone unnoticed by the group would have been an understatement. A second later, Harry emerged into the clearing behind her.

"Oh, 'ere we go…" Filch mumbled, with scattered smirk's leaked over from his and Draco's direction.

"Right, good, ahhh, so we're all here then..." the Professor turned to check something off his checklist, but the drop in his tone told Daphne that he and everyone else was fully able to hear what exactly what had just gone on around the corner.

"Could I take both of your names, please?"

It took her a second to register that he was talking to her. When she did, she was able to muster little more than a croaky answer.

"What?"

"Names, please."

"But you've known us for years?" Harry asked in an equally distressed voice behind her.

"No exceptions, Potter!"

She began to feel the nearby eyes on her. She could, literally, not have a worse group of people seeing her exposed and defeated like this. The hatred bubbling inside her blazed a white-hot. She would rather walk the entire way to the castle right than allow herself further humiliation. She moved past the Transfiguration Professor with as little aggression as possible, then made a beeline for Filch's security desk.

"Ah, well, except for her, I suppose..." Flitwick mumbled. "Now, name?"

Daphne slumped her suitcase down on the desk, then made it her absolute mission not to look behind her as Harry gave his name and proceeded to fall in line behind her. The disapproving glare emitting from Professor Snape was a present one in the corner of her eye.

"Harry, you look positively awful!" Lovegood said from somewhere nearby, "Are you quite alright?"

"Fell over."

"Terribly clumsy of you, Potter!" Draco's voice leaked over from the side.

A wild fire surged inside of Daphne. The snarky attitude she'd seen off Draco today was a far cry from the whimpering little boy she'd seen him as at Borkin and Burkes. If she'd have been in any better mood, she'd have shut him down for it.

"At least I didn't land in Azkaban," Harry spat back.

"Do hurry up, Mister Malfoy," Professor Snape scowled him, then turned to Harry behind, whom she had still managed to not look at.

"You. Clean yourself up and do the same. This is the last carriage back and I'm not having you bleeding on my robes before the term even starts."

"This is the only carriage back?" Daphne asked suddenly.

"Correct, Miss Greengrass. A tight squeeze, but I suppose that's what latecomers deserve. Collect your stuff and pile in."

She snatched her luggage from Flich's table. She didn't make eye contact with another living being as she marched away from the group and was the first to enter the carriage, pushing herself to the furthest possible corner.

This trip to the castle was going to be the longest night of her life.


Daphne may have remained silent the entire trip up, but she felt as though her chest might explode her every second of it. She'd left the physical realm around the half-way point of the journey and had fallen into repeating hers and Harry's exchange in her head. Each time she sat through it she found a rising regret in her throat and an anger at the situation she'd been forced into.

The bandages under her sleeve practically begged to be scratched.

By the time they arrived at the castle, her body was generating waves of hatred so powerful that it seemed incredible the entire carriage could not feel them burning inside her. They reached the doors to the entrance hall and at last stepped out. The great oak front doors swung open into the now Educational Decree-free-entrance hall, and a distant burst of talk and laughter greeted them. That, as well as the sudden smell of food, knocked her sick to her stomach.

"Time for another fun and shining year at Hogwarts," Professor Snape said.

Her mind exploded into a vulgar, profanity-ridden string of insults that she could tell, by the glare coming down his pointed nose, he had been able to overhear.

As she neared the crowded Great Hall, she wanted nothing more than to pelt down to the dungeons as fast as her weak stomach would allow, but knew her lateness already had her on thin ice. Instead, she took the lead of the group and marched through the open doors; if anything to distance herself from these people as quickly as possible. The Great Hall was decorated as bright as usual, but it all just appeared as a shimmering blur to her as she sped across the room as fast as her feet could carry her.

She was passing the Hufflepuff table when people really started to stare, and by the time the whispers had broken out and the pointing had started, she was able to shove herself down beside Tracey.

"Did you deck him!?" Tracey squeaked under her breath.

"What!?" she spat back in a harsh whisper.

"'The hell happened to him!?"

She stuck her arm out and pointed at Harry in the least subtle way possible, who was across the room rapidly descending on his own table. Daphne tore her arm from the air and slammed it down onto the table, snagging the attention of the few people who weren't already ogling at her.

"I didn't do that," she clarified in a quieter tone.

"But-"

"Tracey, shut up! Seriously, not now."

She was very aware that Pansy, Millicent and Draco - who had just joined the table nearby - were watching. She had very much planned to keep the breakup under wraps, preferably hoping that eventually their whole scandal of being together would fade from the public memory and end up a rumour rather than fact. But of course, Draco would spread what he had heard at the gates as far and wide as he could, which definitely wouldn't be helped by their inconspicuous entrance the entire school had witnessed.

Daphne reached across the table, grabbed a spoon-full of mashed potatoes and splattered them across her plate. Without another look at Tracey, or anyone around her, she tucked into her meal and did her best to disassociate herself with the startled eyes coming from all directions.

What was done, was done.

She'd just about traded her soul to do it, but she had finally gotten through the worst of it.

Before long the talk and laughter echoing around the Hall faded almost instantly, and although she didn't dare stray her eyes from the sight of her food, she knew the Headmaster had taken his place at the podium.

"Now as you know," Professor Dumbledore began, ".. each and every one of you was searched upon your arrival here tonight, and I believe you have the right to know why. Once, there was a young man, who like you, sat in this very room. Walked this castles corridors and slept under its roof. He seemed, to all the world, a student just like any other. His name was Tom Riddle."

The atmosphere in the room changed suddenly, even enough for Daphne to notice. Her attention now finally rested on the headmaster.

"Today, of course, he's known all over the world by another name. Which is why," he continued, "as I stand looking out at you all tonight, I am reminded of a sobering factor. Every day… every hour… this very minute, in fact… dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle. And in the end, their greatest weapon is you. Just something to think about. Now pip-pip, off to bed!"

Daphne's eyes leaked across the table to Draco.

Her proclamation earlier was perhaps correct. This night was indeed going to be the longest of her life; it had started weeks ago in Borgin and Burkes and was going to follow her for a very long time after this.


Though around him students began to rise from their seats, Harry remained firmly glued to his.

Hermione was dabbing another tissue over his bleeding nose, but he paid her no mind. His eyes were dead set on the pair of blonde heads across the room.

"Please say something, Harry! Just tell us what happened," she implored.

"Pretty bloody obvious what happened, isn't it?" Ron grimaced. "Him turnin' up with a bloody nose and them two sitting together! She decked him one then left him for Malfoy, didn't she mate?"

"That's ridiculous, Ron!" Hermione scolded him. "Harry, please, people are leaving, will you talk to us?"

"She left me."

"Knew it! Nasty bitch!"

"Shut up, Ron! What did you say, Harry?"

Harry moved suddenly. He snatched the tissues from Hermione's hand, and without a second glance back at any of his housemates, stormed from the room.

"Harry!" Hermione called after him.

He didn't slow, and carried through the crowd and out of the Great Hall on his own. Hermione turned to Ron.

"Oh, well done!"

"'Ow was that my fault?"

"You could have been a little bit more sensitive! Oh, but of course, little Ronald has never heard of the word! I don't know how I managed with you two this many years, you're both complete children!"

Hermione stormed out of the room after Harry.

Ron frowned, and took another bite of his chicken drumstick.

"Bit harsh."


Harry pushed his way through the growing crowd of students and was, after a bit of a hassle, able to get ahead of them. He carried on through the empty halls all the way up to the common room, where even then he didn't stop until he reached the boys dormitory.

His newly arrived luggage beside his bed went ignored and he launched himself onto the mattress, and dragged both curtains closed in an instant. The run up had made his nose bleed even more profusely, he knew he would have to go to Madam Pomfrey about it soon, but not just yet.

He needed to be alone for a few minutes. An hour, tops. Then he could dive back into the world and explain himself to everyone. Then he'd give Ron and Hermione the full details of the interactions he and Daphne had.

First, he just had to come to accept them himself.

It just didn't make sense.

If she wanted to leave him - if Daphne genuinely wanted them to break up - he would respect her decision. He wasn't about to force anybody into something they were uncomfortable with. He'd try to change her mind, sure, no doubt, he'd try to solve problems and fix whatever it was that was pushing her to leave. But if all those failed, and she said with all honestly that she wanted to leave him, he wouldn't force her to stay, no matter how sad it made him.

But Daphne had been talking out of her arse that entire conversation.

The hell did she think she was she playing at? She didn't even try to make him believe what she was saying, she didn't honestly think he'd be satisfied with leaving it like that, did she? She was smart, there wasn't a chance she actually assumed he'd sit and go along with those piss-poor excuses, did she? She wasn't even trying. He had seen Daphne broken down and emotional, he had seen her lie, he had seen her manipulate people into getting what she wanted. This wasn't any of those.

He couldn't figure out if it pissed him off, confused, or upset him that she wasn't even trying. Eventually he settled on all of the above.

She was deliberately keeping him in the dark about something and wasn't even trying to hide it. She already knew he'd fight for her, what more did she want? She didn't occur to him as the insecure type, she wasn't about to play hard to get, but nothing else struck him as a reason for her bizarre, outright-stubborn behaviour.

He was hoping for a relaxed year. There was no Umbridge, no Tri-Wizard Tournament, no Dementors or Basilisk roaming the castle grounds. His only threat was Voldemort, and with the Ministry finally on his side, the Dark Lord had never felt further away. But since when did things ever run as smoothly as he wanted them to?

If Daphne genuinely wanted to leave him - whatever her reason may be - he'd respect it. But she didn't want to, and it was written all over her face.

A part of his brain, one that he previously hadn't known existed, jumped to life. It brought back a memory, attached with it were feelings of a guilty nostalgia. It took him back to the Room of Requirement, one of his meetings with Daphne. He couldn't recall the exact words used, but he remembered how they made him feel. She had asked him what he wanted to do, and he'd been unable to answer. It was the first time anyone had asked him that directly.

He'd lived a lifetime of falling in line and doing what others told him, because if he kept them happy, that would mean they'd like him. Only, the Dursleys never liked him. Even though he did what they said, they still never liked him. He always did what Snape said, but he never liked him either. So if people aren't going to like him regardless of what he did, why did he still go along with it? Why not do whatever he wanted?

It was in this same sitting that she told him he had earned the right to be selfish. She was at least partly right. What she should have said, was that he had earned the right to be happy. Because it was her, Daphne Greengrass, that made him happy. He had earned the right to be happy, and if she thought she could take it away from him without a proper explanation, then she had another thing coming.

With that resolution in mind, Harry began mentally preparing himself. A few moments ago he'd heard other guys enter the dorm and start unpacking their things, of whom probably had no idea he was already here. It was time to go and explain to others what happened, even if that just consisted of telling them not to worry about it.

As he climbed out of bed, a jaded feeling told him this would be a long night ahead of him.